


Fission

by RowanandKatrina



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fan Fusion, Gem Fusion, Gen, Peridot Redemption, Regeneration, Sad Pearl (Steven Universe)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-18
Updated: 2017-03-26
Packaged: 2018-06-02 22:41:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 53,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6585463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RowanandKatrina/pseuds/RowanandKatrina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two Gems can fuse into one, but Pearl learns firsthand that a single Gem can also be split into two entities.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Trust Issues

**Author's Note:**

> This fanfic takes place directly after the events of Log Date 7 15 2 and begins an AU that deviates from the current canon at that point. It's fully possible that some new canon info may come out later that makes this plot inconceivable, but I hope you enjoy it all the same!

"Hey, check this out!" Peridot burst into the room, waving some sort of papers in Pearl's face. From what Pearl could make out from the waving images (and based on the location of all Peridot's escapades lately), the green gem had made some kind of new discovery around the kindergarten. It just wasn't at all clear from Peridot's tone of voice if she wanted Pearl to share in her excitement or if she hoped to crush any aspirations Pearl might have had about ever being more important than a lump of dirt. 

With Peridot, it could be very difficult to discern these things. 

"Yes, I see," Pearl said, trying to push Peridot's hand far enough away so that she could actually make out what was on the papers.

Peridot pulled her creation back and began stroking it hypnotically. "Fascinating thing, this... pay-pour," she said. "You just make marks on it, and the marks stay. It never turns off and yet it uses no power." 

Pearl coughed loudly. "Yes, the wonders of Earth never cease to amaze. Now, your discovery?"

"Ah, yes," Peridot said, clearing her throat. "I've done some extensive searching of the chambers buried within the kindergarten. _Yes_ ," she said, putting up a finger as Pearl started to open her mouth, "there are more rooms down there than simply the Prime Kindergarten Control Room. Now, due to my superior intellect and uncompromising technical know-how, I've managed to open several rooms that were previously inaccessible. I've drawn a series of maps for the perusal of you clo--" She coughed over her insult as Pearl narrowed her eyes. "Erm, that is, for the perusal of you three. No, wait, there's the Steven. That's four. Does the perma-fusion prefer to be counted as one or two? That would make fi--"

Unable to handle the suspense any longer, Pearl snatched the papers out of Peridot's hands. She studied the pencil scratchings with fascination. Peridot was no artist, but even Pearl had to admit, she'd really outdone herself this time. There were at least a dozen rooms that the group of them hadn't been in yet. Which meant more spaces to explore for possible scrap parts. Was the drill technically ready? Yes. Would Pearl take any and all additional improvements they could make to it before Drill Day, as Steven had dubbed it? Yes and double yes.

Pearl traced her finger along Peridot's notes and labels for each room. 

"What's this mean?" she said, pointing to an unfamiliar abbreviation. "Fis. room. What is that?"

"Oh, that?" Peridot suddenly looked nervous. "It's a room. You know, like a space." 

"Okay, a space for what? What is 'fis' short for?"

"Um, it's um..." Peridot was searching around the room almost desperately now. "It's short for, um... fishing. That's right. It's a fishing room." 

"A fishing room?" Pearl asked, more than a little skeptical.

"That's right, a fishing room," Peridot said, snatching her papers back again. "Which means there's nothing useful in it, so you have no reason to go there." She set to the process of arranging the papers so they were perfectly aligned with one another. "We should definitely send a team to the other rooms, though. Might be some much better navigation parts than what we have on the drill now."

Pearl huffed. It seemed that Peridot was under the impression that Pearl was simply going to let this go. As if Pearl ever let anything go. "There's no fishing on Homeworld," she insisted. "You didn't even know what fish were until this morning, when Steven put some on a bagel and you wanted to know if it was a weapon."

Peridot looked uncomfortable. "And... is fish a weapon?"

"It is not!" Pearl snapped. She ran her hand through her hair. Clearly, this was getting nowhere fast. If she wanted to know what was in this room, she was going to have to look into it on her own. 

"You know what?" she said. "I'll take an expedition out to see what we can retrieve from these rooms. You stay here and work." She held out her hand for the map, but her gesture only made Peridot look all the more possessive of it. 

"You... you _do_ trust me, don't you?" she asked. 

Pearl smiled the sweetest smile should could. "After everything you gave up for us? I trust you 100%." 

This seemed to satisfy Peridot, and she at last relented and handed the map over. Pearl folded it up and kept smiling all the way out of the room. 

\----

"I don't trust her one bit!" Pearl declared as Garnet led herself, Steven, and Amethyst down a series of flickering passageways in the depths of the kindergarten. "You should have seen her expression when I started asking questions! Oh, she's hiding something, just you wait."

"I don't know..." Steven said, walking beneath a broken pipe that Garnet had to duck under. "She didn't have any good reason to yell at Yellow Diamond like that. When she says she's on our side, I kinda believe her."

"Yeah, Peri's cool now," Amethyst agreed. 

"I'm not saying she isn't on our side," Pearl began. "I'm just saying--"

"You're just saying," interrupted Garnet, "that you think she found something highly dangerous down here and for some reason, she's refusing to share it with the rest of us."

Pearl's cheeks went blue. Why did Garnet have to phrase things in a way that made Pearl sound so... suspicious? This was a healthy exercise in precaution. Nothing more. And if Peridot really wasn't hiding anything down here, then there was no cause for concern. 

"The room should be coming up soon," she muttered. Nothing like diverting the topic of conversation when things got rough. Garnet gave a "hmph" of agreement and continued leading the group forward. After another few moments, the questionably lit hallway became even darker, and the strong smell of chemicals and burnt-out wires filled the air. 

"Let's see," Garnet said, holding the light from her left hand gem up to each door they passed. "Looks like this place should be right about..." she held the light over the frame of a door that had opened just a crack. "...here."

Garnet thrust her hand out, banging the door open all the way. Steven yelped at the sudden sound. (Okay, that might have been Pearl herself who yelped. Who could really tell in all the excitement?) There must have been some sort of motion sensor activated by Garnet's actions, as the inside of the room immediately flooded with light. Pearl stepped cautiously forward. This wasn't like any place she had seen before. There were pipes and cables leading in every direction. Most of them congealed on a set of chambers that looked uncomfortably sized for a gem of her height, though Amethyst could have no doubt fit inside one of them as well. The chemical smell only got stronger the closer Pearl edged to the door frame. 

"This must be where they were doing those forced fusion experiments," Garnet said, her anger barely contained as she tightened her fists. 

"Now, now... we don't _know_ that," Pearl said, but no one seemed to hear her. 

"I ain't going in there," Amethyst said, backing away. "That place looks creepy." 

"Yeah, I'm with Amethyst," Steven agreed. "Only less 'creepy' and more 'super creepy.' Let's go check out some other rooms for spare stuff."

"I'll go in," Pearl said. She had no clue why she felt so confident. Maybe she had some connection to this place she didn't know about. Or maybe it was just her unhealthy obsession with proving herself right about Peridot. Either way, she couldn't walk away. Not without knowing exactly what this room was supposed to be. 

She crossed the threshold, only to feel Garnet'a strong hand on her arm. "Pearl," her friend said firmly. "There's nothing to be gained by going in there. Let's go explore the other rooms Peridot opened."

"This is the most intact technology we've found so far," said Pearl. "I mean, even the lights still work. You seriously think we'll find something better by digging around in garbage in the dark?"

"I like garbage!" Amethyst called out, already starting back down the hall. Steven followed after her, but Garnet stayed, staring at Pearl for a good long time before speaking again. 

"Listen, if this is what you need to comes to terms with Peridot being on our team, then go ahead. But be careful. Don't do anything stupid."

"Me?" Pearl exclaimed, far louder than she needed to. "When have _I_ ever done anything stupid?"

"The time you tricked me into fusing with you," Garnet said, with zero hesitation. 

"The time you tried to take me to space!" Steven called from halfway down the hall. 

"The time you ruined dinner with Connie's family because you hate food!" Amethyst added. 

Pearl gritted her teeth and tried to resist the urge to yank her hair out. "All right, already! You've all made your point!" she yelled, turning decidedly in the direction of the evil-looking machinery. She half-expected some buzz of activity from it, the way everything looked so strong and intact. But the room was silent. "Go on ahead," she said quietly. "I'll catch up with you once I'm done here."

"You sure you don't want--" Garnet began. 

"I'm fine," Pearl answered quickly, making no attempt to hide the fact that she was hurt. Why did Garnet have to go and bring up the past like that? Didn't forgiveness mean _not_ rubbing reminders in the offender's face? As if Pearl wasn't still guilt-ridden every day about what she'd done. "Go," she said again.

Garnet said nothing and she turned and walked away, her heavy footsteps eventually fading down the hallway into silence.


	2. Stay and Wait

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This next chapter and the one after it are a bit on the short side, but there are longer ones coming up after that. Thanks for reading thus far!

Steven, Garnet, and Amethyst found the next closest room to be far less creepy-looking than the one they had left Pearl in. For one, it had a lot less pipes and wires running all around it. The down side, though, was that most of the machinery it _did_ have was scattered into parts across the smooth, lime-green floor. Steven frowned. When Pearl had said that going through these other rooms would be like picking through garbage, he didn't think she'd be quite this accurate. 

"Well," Garnet sighed. "Let's get to work, then." She and Amethyst walked in and began to do exactly that. Steven followed behind, trying to keep it positive. He'd spent years wishing he could go on missions with the Crystal Gems and now they let him come along all the time. He couldn't get down just because not all the missions were fun. After a quick scan of the room, he went to pick up a metal canister about the size of his pillow. It didn't budge. He strained, bracing himself against the wall and pulling with all his might. It moved an inch, almost right onto his foot. Steven backed away and looked for something a little smaller and lighter. He found another canister, this one about the size of a soup can. Through some feat of Gem technology, this one actually felt heavier. 

"I... uh, guess I'll wait on you guys, then," Steven said, slinking back to the entrance. He rocked back and forth on his heels as he watched Garnet and Amethyst check over the heavy scraps of machinery that were stacked against walls and shelves. Looking at it closer, this place actually reminded Steven of some kind of giant storage room. Or his closet when he hadn't cleaned it out for a while. He still wanted to be as helpful as possible, but from the way his two friends were throwing around the huge chunks of metal like bean bag chairs, he guessed that "helpful as possible" meant standing out of the way and having his bubble ready whenever they needed it. He almost ran out and put up a shield when what looked like an oversized monitor went flying for Amethyst's head. But then she turned herself into a baseball bat and swatted the junk harmlessly into the ground. 

Steven clapped at the display. "Good one, Amethyst!" he called out. If his powers couldn't be of any practical use right now, he wanted to at least provide some moral support. Amethyst grinned as she shifted back to her usual form. 

Steven climbed onto a nearby ledge and looked around for Garnet. He figured he should share his encouragement equally, but she didn't seem to be in the mood for cheerleading. In fact, she didn't seem to be in the mood for anything. She stood in the far corner holding a shattered crystal communicator, but instead of looking at it, she stared off into space. 

_Is she doing the future vision thing again?_ As much as Steven tried to resist it, his mind filled with anxious thoughts. Did she see the roof collapsing in on them? Did she see Amethyst carelessly tossing something hard and spiky into one of their gems, shattering it into a thousand irreparable pieces? Did she see--

"Steven," Garnet said suddenly. "You should go back and check on Pearl." 

Steven straightened to attention. Whenever Garnet suggested he do anything, it was less of a suggestion and more a warning. "Is she okay?" he asked. 

"Don't ask questions," Garnet replied. "Just go do it." 

Steven didn't need to be asked twice. He leapt down from his perch and hurried out the door.

\----

After five minutes of poking around the supposed "Fis" room, Pearl was severely disappointed. Not only had she not found any good tech here that could enhance the drill, she hadn't uncovered a single piece of evidence that Peridot was secretly planning to stab them all in the back. She supposed she really should have been happy about the lack of betrayal, but she never did like being wrong about things, most especially her assessment of others. 

Having checking everything else with no success, Pearl rubbed her chin as she looked at the (to use Steven's words) "super creepy" crystalline pods that seemed to be at the center of this whole monstrosity. She had no clue what they were, but her first guess was that they were some sort of traveling device. 

_Maybe that's why Peridot didn't want me in here,_ she thought. _Maybe she planned to use these to escape back to Homeworld. Though that still doesn't explain why this would be called the Fis. Room._

With a shrug of her shoulders, Pearl ran a hand over the clear casing of the closest pod. The thing groaned at her touch and cracked open like a cocoon. Pearl gasped and stepped back, her heart pounding in her ears. She even started to reach for her weapon until she realized how stupid she must look right now. Really, she was acting like a frightened little newly formed Gem, and over what? Odds were that the tech in this room hadn't worked for centuries. She lowered her hand from her forehead and got a good grip on the open crack in the pod, forcing it open enough that she could get a good look inside. 

Strange... the pod didn't seem to have any navigation controls inside of it. If this was some sort of escape vessel, it wasn't a terribly efficient one. Perhaps it was something more sinister. A prison of some kind?

Her heart began to race again. Garnet had been quite positive that this was a room for experimenting on Gems, and Pearl really would be an idiot to not take Garnet's advice seriously. She started to straighten up and pull away from the strange device, but somehow, she couldn't. It was as if she could form the thought in her mind, but the message faded before it got to her muscles. She stood frozen over the strange contraption, not willing to move any closer, but unable to back away. Behind her, she heard the groan of the room's heavy door closing of its own accord. Her heart pounded faster. 

_I shouldn't be in here; I need to get out!_ /Even as fear seized her mind, another voice seemed to be calling out to her. The voice itself was unfamiliar, but the tone was clear -- it was a command, not a request. 

_"Get in, Pearl."_ Pearl had heard plenty of commands in her lifetime. It had taken Rose Quartz decades of reminding her that she was her own Gem, to break her habit of just compulsively obeying whatever order got snapped at her. But Pearl hadn't felt compelled to obey anyone's commands in centuries. This one, however, felt like it pierced through every encouraging word Rose had ever said to her. Her mind fell back to her most basic instincts.... she was just a Pearl, an accessory. It was not for her to question what a higher Gem told her to do. 

As if in a trance, Pearl pulled the crack to the pod open enough that she could slip inside. She entered feet first, then pulled in the rest of her body. Finally, she folded her arms across her chest and closed her eyes. 

_"Stay here. Wait,"_ the voice commanded. 

Somewhere deep in her mind, Pearl screamed that she didn't want to wait, that she wanted to get out of this death trap and run as far away from it as possible. But once again, her body followed the voice's commands, not her own. She could only listen to the creaking sound of the pod sealing like a coffin around her. Then the ancient machinery that she'd been so completely certain was nonoperational began to hum with building energy.


	3. The Fis. Room

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I've had to take some creative guesses about Pearl's past in this chapter. I hope they make sense. Thanks for reading!_

Steven didn't notice anything strange when he first arrived. The door to the room was closed now, but it had a tall window that even he could look through. Well, on tiptoes, at any rate. When Steven stretched himself and peered in, the room looked the same as it had when they left; Pearl was looking around at some machinery... something she pretty much did on a daily basis. That didn't seem so bad. Steven even tried waving to her, although she didn't wave back. Probably she didn't notice him; Pearl could get involved in her work, after all. 

Next, Pearl climbed into some scary-looking pod thing. That looked kind of bad. But surely she knew what she was doing. Pearl wouldn't climb into anything dangerous. Then the machine turned itself on. That looked super-bad. Then, inside the pod, Pearl's body began to glow with a white-hot light. 

Steven grabbed the door handle, but it didn't turn. He yanked on it as hard as he could. Still nothing. He let out a mighty yell and imagined that his gem had suddenly granted him the strength of five hundred Stevens. At this display, the doorknob held firm and gave the uncanny impression that it was silently laughing at him. 

"Um, Garnet? Garnet!" Steven yelled. Within moments, Garnet was at his side, quickly enough that he suspected she'd already been running this way before he started calling her. 

"What's going on?" she demanded to know. 

Without a good answer to that question, Steven stuttered over his words. "I... the... into thingy... glowing..." He pointed desperately at the window, hoping that Garnet would able to make more sense of this than he could. She peered through the window (unlike him, she had to stoop to see in), but to Steven's huge disappointment and frustration, she made no reaction to what she saw. Steven tried to wedge his way in to get another look when Amethyst came barreling around the corner. 

"What's going on?" she asked. Then, without waiting for anyone to actually answer her, she ran forward and grabbed Steven, stretching her legs so they could both easily see in through the window. 

Pearl was still glowing, more intensely now than before. Steven also noticed that the gem on her forehead seemed to be changing shape. It quivered violently until a crease formed down the center, making it resemble a double yolk in an egg instead of a single gem. It reminded Steven of the time he'd seen Ruby and Sapphire unfuse from each other as Garnet argued with herself. 

"It looks like she's splitting in two..." he whispered. Then, with a gasp, he asked, "Is Pearl a fusion too, Garnet?"

"She is _not,_ " Garnet said, finally breaking out of her silence. Her tone was hardly comforting, but at the same time, Steven was relieved to hear Garnet say _something_. Garnet always led them through a crisis. She couldn't freeze up on them now. 

"I'm going in there!" Amethyst yelled, placing Steven back on the ground and raising her fist to give the door a massive punch. 

"To do what?" Garnet snapped at her. "Pearl's gem is under intense pressure right now. You go in there bashing things around, and you could shatter it." 

Amethyst gritted her teeth. "Hey, I might not be like the geniuses you two are, but even I'm pretty sure that _building pressure_ tends to make things go boom, too! We gotta get her out of there!" 

Steven held his head. He saw both their points, but he didn't have any clue what was better for Pearl. He couldn't even tell what was happening to her and had the infuriating feeling that both Amethyst and Garnet understood way more than they were letting on. Then, all at once, a glimmer of hope appeared in his mind. 

"Wait, you can see with future vision, right?" Steven said hopefully. He gripped Garnet's arm as tightly as he could. "You can tell if Pearl's going to be okay, right?"

This suggestion only seemed to upset Garnet more, and she pulled her arm from Steven's grip. She then yanked off her visor, rubbed her three eyes, and replaced the visor in one smooth motion. When she'd gathered herself, she got down on her knees and held Steven's shoulders, the same way she always did when trying to explain something she knew would be hard for him to get. "That's the problem, Steven. It doesn't matter if we break down that door or just stand and watch. In both scenarios, I don't see Pearl in the immediate future. She doesn't exist." 

\----

For a few moments, the world around Pearl disappeared. She felt the claustrophobic casing of the pod fade from her reality. Her body floated upwards, and she found herself standing in what looked to be some kind of fog against a dark, endless expanse of sky. Pearl tapped her toe experimentally on the ground. It seemed solid enough, though that hardly narrowed the options as to where she was. She searched the horizon, wondering where she should go in this featureless place when heard a familiar voice calling to her. 

_"Pearl!"_

Pearl whirled around to see a distant, silhouetted figure approach. The figure was hard to recognize at first, but its voice pierced Pearl to her core. It was an owner. Her owner.

_"Come, Pearl. Come over here."_

Pearl took a step towards the voice. Every vibration of sound reminded her of the truths she'd been born into: She was not an individual. She did not have her own identity; even her appearance merely reflected that of her master's preferences. Without someone giving her commands, she was purposeless. She had to obey the voice or become a broken tool with no reason for existing. 

_"No, don't go!"_ another voice called. Pearl's chest seized. Rose? But that couldn't be. Rose was gone. Had been gone for years. And yet Pearl heard her calling, clear as anything: _"You don't have to listen, Pearl. You're more than that!"_

Terrified of what she might see, Pearl turned around. The figure behind her was only a silhouette, just as the one that she'd been walking towards, but Pearl could still make out the trademark locks of pink hair. 

"R-rose?" she asked horsely. 

The figure did not immediately reply, but instead held out her hand. _"Come. Come here."_ Pearl turned and began walking. Whether this was a vision or a nightmare or something else, she didn't care. She would always go to Rose. 

_"Are you broken?"_ the commanding voice asked. _"Stop walking the wrong way. Come back."_

Pearl froze. Old thoughts flooded to her head, thoughts she hadn't had in millennia. Walking to Rose Quartz was dangerous. All the masters said she had foolish ideas. What was Pearl thinking, anyway? She tried to turn back once again, only to hear the two voices clashing in her mind, darting in and out of her consciousness: 

_"You're a strong fighter..."_

_"You could never fight..."_

_"You can teach yourself..."_

_"You're incapable of learning..."_

_"Beautiful Pearl..."_

_"Defective trash..."_

Pearl knelt down in the fog, grasping the sides of her head. Her brain felt like someone was drawing a line of fire through its core. "Please tell me what I'm supposed to be!" she yelled. "I can't decide on my own!" 

The two voices continued arguing with each other until Pearl couldn't even make out any distinct words anymore. The pain became unbearable, consuming her. The line of fire crawled down her spine, threatening to snap her body in two. 

_Let it happen, then!_ Pearl screamed in her head. _Let me break! I can't take this anymore! I'm sorry, Rose. I can't take it!_

In the instant the thought crossed her mind, the pain blasting through Pearl disappeared, and the world around her went dark.


	4. Ways to Lie

Peridot narrowed her eyes at the objects in front of her. The identity of said objects was not that much of a mystery... they were obviously two pearls. Nearly identical in size and shape, the only subtle difference seemed to be that one had a orange tint to it, while the other, more of a purple one. The question was where they had come from and what the others expected her to do with them. 

"And... explain what happened next?" For some reason, she felt the compulsion to yell this question very loudly, but managed to keep her voice at a normal tone. 

The Steven... no, "just Steven" he'd asked to be called, was making the most peculiar blubbering sounds while liquid streamed from his eyes and even dripped out of his nose. "...and then, Pearl was gone, and just these two stones were sitting there!" 

Peridot picked up each stone and carefully weighed them in her hands. Impressive. They even seemed to weigh the same. But that didn't change what had happened. "So..." she said through gritted teeth. "Let me make sure I understand this correctly. I warned Pearl, _specifically,_ warned her, not to go into that room, and the first thing she does is asked to be left _alone_ in it?"

The Crystal Gems all nodded at her. Seeing this, something in Peridot snapped. She put the two stones calmly back on the table before releasing her tension in a violent whirlwind of destruction on the rest of the room. 

"Clod!" she yelled at the top of her lungs, grabbing a primitive room-lightning device and smashing it against the countertop. "Stupid, stupid, _stupid_ clod!" She yanked the bread-burning machine from its socket and hurled it through the nearest window. "That stupid, lying pearl said she trusted me! She even gave me a percentage! How could you lie about a _percentage_?" 

Peridot went to grab the image cube next when she felt Garnet's strong hand on her shoulder. 

"Peridot, it's okay," Garnet said. "We're all scared for Pearl. But that's why we came to you."

"I am _not_ scared!" Peridot snapped. And she wasn't. At least... it didn't feel like being scared. Scared was when she got abandoned on Earth and thought she'd never see home again. Scared was when Earth's atmosphere made strange noises and dumped water everywhere for no discernible reason. You got scared _of_ something. You didn't get scared _for_ someone. Did you?

Peridot rubbed her eyes and found to her shock that they were leaking liquid just as the Steven's were. Apparently, his condition was contagious. "I just... I don't _get_ your Earth behaviors at all. Why wouldn't she trust me?"

At this, Garnet looked angry. "You mistrusted her first. You didn't trust her to handle the full truth, so you left out key information when you were talking to her. There's more than one way to lie, Peridot." 

Peridot stiffened in defense, but couldn't think of again good retort. In either case, however, Garnet didn't give her much of a chance. She ushered Peridot back to the table, in front of the two pearls once again. 

"Now, we need your help," Garnet said sternly. "Is there anything we can do to repair this?"

Peridot breathed deeply and refocused her intellect on the problem in front of her. That was what she was made for, after all. Not this... these erratic, emotion things. She picked up each pearl once again, examining them closely, trying to analyze them for any hint of information she didn't already have. She hadn't had a whole lot of experience with the Fission Room, but even she knew that a split as perfect as this was extremely rare. There might genuinely be a chance of normal regeneration with these two gems. A minuscule chance, but a chance nonetheless.

"Well?" the Steven sniffled. "Can you bring Pearl back?"

"Bring her back?" Peridot tried not to laugh. Really, she did. But the level of ignorance on Steven's part was just so ridiculous that she couldn't help herself. "I can't bring back someone who doesn't exist anymore. The Pearl that you're familiar with is gone." She put the two gems back on the table and pushed them away. "I don't know who or what will emerge from these two pearls or if anything will emerge at all. We're wasting our time." 

She walked away from the table. This was stupid, getting her hopes, getting any of their hopes up like this. Their survival was at risk, and that had to be Peridot's focus. They still had to get this drill moving and now with the only other Gem who could actually follow a technical discussion gone to pieces, Peridot would have to work twice as hard. She reached under the couch where she'd stashed a copy of the drill's schematics and the map they had to follow. Much to her frustration, however, none of the Crystal Gems budged from where they stood. 

"So that's what happened in that room, then?" Steven asked. "Pearl's gem was split in two?"

Peridot groaned at the redundancy of Steven's question, but in the interest of not having Garnet fling her through the nearest window, she decided to answer in the kindest way possible. "Yes. Hence why we called it the _Fission_ Room. Where do you think we got Gem shards to form the cluster in the first place?" 

This, it seemed, did not turn the conversation in Peridot's favor, but instead pitted everyone further against her. Garnet let out a gasp of shock and Amethyst even went so far as to pull out her whip. 

"You..." she growled. "We _thought_ those were pieces of Gems that were broken in battle. We didn't think you actually murdered them yourselves!"

Peridot stood up her chair, which only seemed to prove how much stature she lacked here. But she was sick of being labeled the villain, and this time, she planned to say so. "I didn't murder anyone! In case you've forgotten, this all happened thousands of years before I landed on Earth! You're looking for someone to blame, but since the Gems who built that room aren't here, you figure I'm the next best thing!"

Amethyst actually did raise her whip at this, but before she could use it, Garnet stepped forward and pounded the table, which very nearly snapped it in two. "Even if you didn't build that place, you knew it was there! If you couldn't tell Pearl about it, you could have at least told the rest of us!"

"You would have been worse!" Peridot said, throwing her hands in the air. "You Crystal Gems are so _obsessed_ with fusion, if I told you that fission existed, you'd kick me out!"

"Like we're not gonna do that now," Amethyst growled. She and Garnet both took a fighting stance. Peridot prepared herself to fight, too (thought she had no clue how she would do so). Then, much to her surprise, Steven grasped Garnet around the waist and made a pathetically vain effort to pull her back. 

"Please," he begged. "Stop fighting! We had enough bad things happen today without any more fighting!"

His pleas didn't seem to have any effect at first. Garnet was a mountain of a Gem, ready to come crashing down on Peridot with her full strength. Yet, at the sound of Steven's voice, she seemed to soften. Her weapons disappeared and she gently patted Steven on the head as he rubbed his eye and nose liquid all over her.

"I'm sorry, Steven," Garnet said. "You're right. Fighting isn't helping anyone." 

"...would've made _me_ feel better," Amethyst muttered. 

Peridot massaged her forehead. It seemed she'd narrowly escaped death once again. "Look, the situation isn't great, but it's not totally lost, either." She motioned to the table once again. "These Gems are definitely alive. They are regenerating, and I believe they will form complete bodies when they do so. And since both these two Gems came from your Pearl, they should, in theory, have aspects of her personality. They may even have her memories, too." 

"But... they'll still be different Gems?" Amethyst asked, lowering her whip by a fraction.

"As I think I've explained several times already, yes." Peridot expected this statement to send Steven into another wave of hysterics, but instead, it seemed to have the opposite effect. He got a look of excitement and hope in his eyes and grasped Garnet's hand. 

"Hey, maybe that's what you couldn't see in your future vision," he said. "If Pearl is two different Gems now, you wouldn't have known to look for them. That's why it felt like Pearl disappeared, even though she didn't totally." 

"It's a possible explanation," Garnet allowed, with no tone of hope in her voice at all. 

"So then it's settled," Steven went on. "All we do is wait for these two new Gems to regenerate, we get them to fuse with each other, and bam, Pearl's back!" 

"Steven," Garnet began, "fusion's much more complicated than just--" 

Only Steven wasn't listening. "I'm going to go help Pearl's gems to regenerate!" he announced, scooping the two pearls up and cradling them in his hands. "I'm going to make them their own little bed in my room. They'll feel super-welcome when they come out." 

He skipped out of the room with Amethyst calling out, "They're not eggs, dude!" right as he closed the door.

Peridot watched with curiosity as Steven left. If the Crystal Gem's fluctuating emotions made no sense to her, Steven's emotions made even less sense. He did know that the odds were against him, didn't he? Statistically speaking, there was little hope of anything resembling his old friend regenerating from those pearls. Yet he acted so... happy just now. 

Peridot sighed, resigning herself to eternal confusion. "I'll be honest--"

"Please do," Garnet said. 

A fair point, not that Peridot would admit as much. "The Fission System wasn't designed to make two individual Gems like that. Our Pearl must have been having some serious internal conflict to make a split so perfect. I mean, I don't think you could manufacture that if you tried."

"You're seriously dissing Pearl at a time like this?" Amethyst asked. 

"Not at all," Peridot said. "I'm saying that whatever that conflict was, it might have very well just saved her life."


	5. Sea Glass

Steven knew what he would use to store the two pearls even before he got up to his room. A few years ago on his birthday, Garnet had gifted him with the G.U.Y.S & G.A.L.S Super Deluxe, super-soft, carrying case/pillow. It had seemed to him to be a weird addition to the G.U.Y.S. lineup at the time (after all, once you filled all the pillow's little pockets with G.U.Y.S figures, the thing made a pretty uncomfortable pillow). But now, it seemed to him, it was the best invention ever. 

Still holding the pearls gently in his hands, he reached under his bed and felt around for the pillow. Once he had it, a quick shake got the figures out of it. (He felt like he should apologize to Dave Guy for sending him tumbling to the ground, but a spot for Pearl's gems did seem more important now.)

Steven blew off the dust that the pillow had accumulated and laid it gently on his bedside table. Then he tucked the pearls into the two most comfortable-looking pockets, climbed up onto his bed, and waited. 

And waited. And waited some more. 

He seemed to recall something about Pearl taking the longest to regenerate out of any of the Gems and wondered if maybe his brilliant plan had a few small flaws in it. As he pondered over this, there was a soft knock at the door. 

"Dinner's ready," Garnet called out to him. 

"Mm-kay," Steven replied, not moving. His arms were starting to feel a bit sore from lying in the same position so long, but he didn't take his eyes off the two pearls for a second. What if one of them regenerated when he wasn't here? She'd feel all lost and confused and alone. Nope, better to plant himself on this bed and not move an inch until Pearl was back. That made complete and total sense. 

"Steven?" Garnet asked again. "Aren't you hungry?"

He was hungry, actually. The fact that he was lying on his stomach only made its growls feel more pronounced. He supposed he could eat all his meals in his room while he was waiting. Old Pearl hated food, though. Would new Pearl feel the same way? Steven wondered if he just might be able to sleep off his hunger for a bit. Then, at that thought, a more brilliant and awesome thought occurred to him. 

"Hey, maybe I can talk to Pearl while I'm sleeping!" he said, finally taking his eyes off the pillow long enough to look at Garnet. 

"While you're sleeping?" Garnet asked. There was a slight chuckle to her voice. She was humoring him. But she did that a lot. Steven couldn't bring himself to be insulted by it; it was actually kind of sweet. 

"Yeah, why not?" Steven asked. "I was able to talk to Lapis when I started dreaming... maybe I can talk to Pearl the same way."

"Well, talking to one Gem who's in a fusion is not the same thing as talking to a Gem that's regenerating."

Steven frowned. Now Garnet was getting into serious Steven-discouraging territory. "Just let me try," he said. "I'll take a short nap, and if nothing happens, I promise I'll eat when I wake up, okay?"

A warm smile crept over Garnet's face. "All right, Steven. I'll be up to get you in an hour. Have a good rest." And with that, she quietly stepped out of the room and pulled the door shut behind her. 

\----

Falling asleep wasn't easy for Steven. Three hours before bedtime not to mention his excitement about his brilliant idea both kept him awake for a bit. In the end, he managed to trick himself to sleep by listing the names of all the G.U.Y.S. in his head by order of release date. He'd gotten to Invisible Guy when he finally nodded off. 

It felt like Steven had fallen into a dream the second his eyes shut. As the dream opened, Steven found himself standing on what looked like a pink cloud. The cloud, however, quickly dissipated, and he found himself ankle-deep in what looked like a crystal-clear lake. 

"Okay..." he said hesitantly. "I guess it... looks more like Pearl's room. So maybe I'm getting close?" 

The lake itself did not answer (and Steven guessed he would have been serious unnerved if it had), so he began to walk, hoping something would appear. There didn't appear to be any path to take or corners to turn, but after he'd been walking for a good five or ten minutes talking to himself along the way, Steven heard what sounded like a splash behind him. 

He whirled around and saw some kind of figure behind him, her back facing him. Steven stepped forward. The figure did look like Pearl, though not exactly. Her outfit looked similar enough, but with added sheer sleeves that draped over her shoulders. Half her head was completely bald while the other half had shoulder length hair that fell into her face. And did she...? Steven narrowed his eyes. Yup, she definitely only had one arm. Not that there was anything wrong with having one arm. Sapphire only had one eye, and she got along okay. 

He couldn't stop himself from smiling. This had to be Pearl, there was no doubt about it. All he had to do what talk to her, get her to come back, and everything could go back to normal. 

"Um... hi?" Steven called out to her. Half-Pearl turned around, startled. Her hair fluttered for a moment, revealing that she also only had one eye. Unlike Sapphire, however, her single eye was positioned on the left side of her face, conveniently out of the way of the hair cascading over the right side of her face. Her gem wasn't centered, either, but instead rested just above her left eyebrow. 

"Oh. Steven," she said. Her voice sounded nervous. Or maybe timid was a better word for it. But the tone didn't matter. It most definitely Pearl's voice. "I... didn't expect to see you here," she added on. 

Steven blushed. It suddenly occurred to him that maybe regenerating was a very private thing. Maybe he'd just done the Gem equivalent of walking in on someone while they using the bathroom. If Pearl were here, he'd explain these things to him. Only she wasn't here. That was the whole problem. 

"I-I'm sorry," he said, fighting back tears. "I can leave, if you want."

Half-Pearl got a sympathetic look and knelt down as the old Pearl did so often. Only, since she was barely taller than Steven, kneeling meant she had to look up at him. 

"You shouldn't leave if you don't want to."

Steven smiled and rubbed his eyes. "Thanks, Pearl. It's just that... I miss you so much. I really want you to come back."

She looked puzzled. "You... want me back?" she asked. "You want me to regenerate, you mean?"

"Well, yes, of course," Steven said. "I've been waiting and waiting for you to regenerate."

She stood and bowed to him. "Then I'll do that right away. I'm so sorry for keeping you waiting."

"Really?" Steven practically jumped up and down with excitement. He had no idea it would be this easy. If he had known he could do this, he would have done it the first time Pearl had to regenerate, rather than trying to make friends with that weird Holo-Pearl she'd created. "Okay, great!" he said, wrapping his arms around her. "I'm going to wake back up now, but... I'll see you soon, okay?"

He gave her a full-Steven-strength squeeze before releasing her. Her cheeks went a bit blue and she bowed again. This half of Pearl seemed to do a lot of bowing, for some reason. "Very well. As you wish." 

With that, everything around Steven vanished, and a loud crash rang in his ears. He jolted his head up to find himself back in his own room, wrapped up in his sheets like a cloth burrito, and looking straight at Garnet's massive feet. Apparently he'd been rolling around his sleep. Just a little bit. 

"You awake?" Garnet asked, peering over him. 

"Oh, yeah!" Steven said, jumping to his feet. He immediately fell back down again and hold to roll around the floor a bit to untangle himself. Once he was free, he eagerly went over to the pillow carrying case to look at the two pearls once again. His eyes widened with excitement. The orange-ish one was still in its place and unmoving, but the purplish one had started to glow and wiggle around. It then floated up from its spot and hovered over the ground for a moment before the glow around it started to stretch and grow into a familiar, Pearl-like shape. Garnet stepped back in surprise, and when the light faded, there was the Gem Steven had seen in his dream, standing right here in the middle of his room. 

"Hi!" Steven said, unable to hide his grin. "Welcome back!"

"Um... thank you," Half-Pearl said nervously. She looked around the room as if it was strange to her, but she seemed to find Garnet familiar enough. "Hello," she said with a polite dip of her head. 

"Hi," Garnet said back. 

Steven looked back and forth between the two of them in confusion. Somehow, he expected their reunion to have a little more... emotion in it? 

"Okay," he said, clearing his throat. "Garnet, re-meet Pearl. Erm, Half-Pearl. Half-Pearl, re-meet Garnet." Neither one answered him. The two just continued to stare at each other as if looking at a total stranger. He could understand the weirdness to a point (most especially the part where Half-Pearl only came up to Garnet's waist), but the awkwardness should have had its limits. 

"Okay, I guess you're not Pearl exactly," Steven said, turning to her first. "But calling you 'Half-Pearl' just sounds rude. We need a name for you." He rubbed his chin. He wasn't always the best with naming things, and he couldn't really think of any other ocean-related gems. Hoping for inspiration, he stared at the crashing waves battering the beach just outside his window. Then, much to his surprise, inspiration hit. "Oo, I'll call you Sea Glass!" he said excitedly. 

"Sea Glass?" she questioned. 

"Yup," Steven said, crossing his arms and feeling rather proud of himself. Then he noticed Sea Glass still cocking her head in confusion. "Do you not like that name? You don't have to use it if you don't like it." 

At this, she broke into a smile and stifled a laugh. "That's sweet of you to say, but you're my owner. You should call me whatever you want." 

"Owner?" Steven stiffened. This sounded hauntingly familiar. He remembered all the stuff that Peridot had said about what Pearls were usually like on Homeworld. But the Pearl he knew had never acted like that -- she had always been her own person. "I'm not your owner," he said firmly. 

"You're... not?" Sea Glass asked, looking concerned now. She stroked her chin. "Oh, dear. Are you sure? I know my memory's been a little disrupted. Who is it then, if it's not you?"

"It's not anybody!" Steven said. "You don't _have_ an owner." This sounded to him like it should have been very good news to hear, but Sea Glass looked like he had crushed her soul. 

"Then... what am I for?" 

Steven's jaw slackened. He didn't even know where to begin to answering that question. "You're for... being you!" he said, throwing his arms up in the air. "And... doing.... _you_ things!"

"Steven," Garnet said, her hand on his head. "Calm down." 

He tried to calm down. Really, he did. But this was so unlike the Pearl that he knew, he couldn't process it. What "half" of Pearl ever acted anything like this? It was like someone stuck her with a personality he'd never seen before. 

"This is what I was afraid of," Garnet said, adjusting her visor and kneeling down to meet him at eye level. "Pearl is thousands of years old, Steven. What you know as her personality now may be completely different than what she was like before. There's millennia of her life that I don't know about, either. So if we're going to make this work, we can't keep expecting her to act like the full Pearl. She's a different Gem. Just like Ruby on her own isn't me and neither is Sapphire. Do you understand that?"

Steven pushed Garnet's hand away. Not harshly, but not gently, either. "Quit talking about her like she's not here!" he yelled. Then he turned to Sea Glass. "Don't you have anything to say? Doesn't any of this bother you?"

She shook her head, her face impassive. Steven groaned and ran his hand through his hair. Focus, focus. He had to be patient and understanding. Yelling wasn't going to help anyone. 

"Okay, look, if you feel weird not having an owner, then you can call me your owner. But--" He pointed forward, touching her right on the end of the nose. "As your 'owner', I'm telling you to do whatever it is you feel like doing, okay? No asking me about it first. No waiting for me to give you permission. Okay?"

"Um, okay," Sea Glass said, blinking. "That, um... seems a bit contradictory, but... I'll try my best." 

Steven grinned. This wasn't so bad. And once Sea Glass merged with the other Gem that would regenerate, Pearl would be herself again. "Now, let's go downstairs. Steven's starving."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _So, yea, we've got one half of Pearl in the story now. The description of her is just what came to mind while imagining how a split Pearl would look, but if you have another idea for her appearance, feel free to leave suggestions in the comments. :) Thanks for reading!_


	6. Memories

"Whoa, you look really weird!" Amethyst announced when Sea Glass descended the stairs and walked into the kitchen. Garnet's version of dinner appeared to be a not-too-healthy, but incredibly delicious spread of hot dogs, rolls, and a wide variety of hot dog condiments. Amethyst jumped off her chair and walked up to the odd trio, circling Sea Glass with an appraising look. "I like the sleeves, though. They're pretty cool. You gonna keep those when you re-fuse?"

"If Steven wants it," Sea Glass replied. 

"Huh?" Amethyst straightened. "What's Steven got to do with it?"

"Because he's my owner, of course." Sea Glass smiled like she was thoroughly pleased with herself for having the correct answer so quickly. Steven slapped himself in the forehead. Amethyst made no immediate response except to stare at Sea Glass with wide, bewildered eyes.

"Steven," she ordered, still not looking in his direction, "talking place. Now." 

Steven held up one finger. "Wait," he said. He then reached for one of the hot dogs that were sitting on the table, devoured it in five bites, and took a long drink of water before resuming his conversation. "Stevie is better now," he declared. "Talking place." 

Amethyst rolled her eyes and grabbed him by the hand, pulling him away from the group and out of the kitchen. Her "talking place" referred to the space underneath the stairs. Since Garnet could barely fit inside and Pearl had simply found it too undignified a place to have a conversation, Amethyst and Steven had frequently used it as a place to have their own discussions. Amethyst pulled Steven into the space, not even bothering with the "curtain" Steven had made out of a towel rack and a blanket.

"Hey, what gives?" she said, finally letting go of his hand. "That's... not anything like Pearl!"

"I know that," Steven said, rubbing his wrist where Amethyst had been pulling on it. "Garnet says that this half of Pearl might be..." he tried to remember Garnet's exact words on their way down the stairs, "...reflecting of a period in Pearl's past that she herself had kept suppressed for a long time."

"And what does that mean?" Amethyst asked, crossing her arms. 

Steven frowned. "I don't totally know," he admitted. "I think it means that might have been how Pearl used to act before any of us met her."

Amethyst blew a piece of hair out of her face. "Yeah, well, if even Garnet doesn't remember her acting like this, then you're talking back to the time her and Rose's rebellion. Maybe even before that." 

"So... you don't know anything about her life back then?" Steven asked. 

"Why would I? I wasn't even born, dude!" 

Steven hung his head in disappointment. Even though he knew that Amethyst had been the last one to join the team, he'd been hoping that somehow Amethyst had some information about Pearl that Garnet didn't. Maybe some heart-to-heart they'd had when Garnet wasn't around. Only now he realized that Amethyst and Pearl having any kind of heart-to-heart unless Steven or Garnet made them had been pretty much a nonexistent event.

"Oh, come on, don't cry or anything," Amethyst begged. 

Steven rubbed his eyes. He hadn't even realized his eyes had been wet, but Amethyst was right. He got a hold of himself quickly. "I'm not crying," he declared. 

"Of course you're not," Amethyst said with a smile. "Because we're going to fix this. All you have to do is get Pearl's second Gem to fuse with this one, and--"

"Um, Pearl's second gem hasn't regenerated yet," Steven said. "I can't really control the dream-talking thing too well. It was only Sea Glass there when I fell asleep and started dreaming."

Amethyst stared blankly at him for a few moments. "You named that girl in there Sea Glass?" 

Steven nodded. 

"That's not even a Gem name, dude." 

Steven shrugged and rubbed his chin. If he was going to try to contact Pearl's other half, he would need a name for her, too. There wasn't a window to the beautiful ocean from here (or a window to anything, really, being the underside of the stairs and all), so Steven closed his eyes for a minute and imagined all the beautiful, name-worthy things he might find on the ocean floor. 

"Coral," he finally concluded.

"Huh?"

"I'm going to name Pearl's other half Coral." 

"That's not a Gem name, either."

Steven hung his head in disappointment, unsure how much more failure he could take. Then he heard Amethyst's voice reassuring him, "But... it's nice anyways."

\----

When Steven went back to the kitchen, he found that his first hot dog hadn't filled him up nearly as much as he'd hoped and helped himself to a second. Garnet had apparently made a dozen of them, unsure of how much Amethyst planned to consume. Amethyst then picked up the entire tray and announced she was taking it to her room unless someone else had objections. No one did. Sea Glass commented that the idea of her taking food didn't seem very practical, but neither did it disgust her, and if Steven wished it, she would most certainly give these "hot dogs" a try. It left dinner on a very uncomfortable note.

"Look, let's just um... why don't we show you to your room," Steven said. 

"All right, then," Sea Glass replied. 

Steven led her to the Gems' door, which opened up to Pearl's room on their approach. Steven stepped through, clutching Sea Glass's small hand. It occurred to him that he'd hadn't ever actually been up here without asking her first and he harbored a small fear that perhaps Pearl had some sort of secret barrier in here that would zap them if they entered without her giving permission. If such a barrier did exist, though, it didn't seem to go off in their presence. They rose into the huge space, filled with its vast pools and floating waterfalls. If Steven didn't turn around and just kept walking, he could almost imagine that Pearl was back here. 

"So, this is where you... um, Pearl liked to hang out a lot," he said. His first thought was to take her on a tour until he realized that he didn't have much of an idea how this place was organized. 

Sea Glass suppressed a giggle. "Steven, I know my way around the room," she said. "I remember it quite well."

"Wait, you do?" Steven asked. He'd been working under the assumption that Sea Glass was simply Pearl before she met Rose Quartz. It didn't occur to him that she'd been a mix of both. And, he realized to his embarrassment, he hadn't even bothered to question her about it. He sat down on a stump of a marble pillar beside a crystal clear lake and Sea Glass sat beside him in silence. 

"You know," Steven said. "I've been asking everyone else what they remember about you, but... I never asked you directly," he said. "How much do you know about your past?"

"Oh, I remember practically everything," Sea Glass said proudly. "When you were born, the time I met Amethyst, all... well, at least some of my sword practice--"

"Wow, really?" Steven asked with excitement. 

"Well, yes," she replied. Then she gently touched the side of her head. "There are... some memories missing, though," she said. "I don't remember your mother."

"Um, what?" Steven asked. It was true he didn't know a whole lot about his mother, either, but he knew one thing. She and Pearl had been really, really close.

"I mean, I am aware of who she was and her significance in the history of Homeworld," Sea Glass clarified. "But I don't remember her on a personal level. I know I had many conversations with her, but they're all in a fog. To be honest, I'm only partially clear on what she looked like." 

Steven felt crushed all over again. He felt it for Pearl first, but then, a new despair welled inside him for kind of selfish reasons. Of all the Crystal Gems, Pearl knew most about his mother. Her stories of Rose Quartz made him feel like he could see her, even if he was only imagining it. If those memories were gone... 

Sea Glass seemed to sense his distress and stroked her chin. "It seems most of my more... emotional personality is tied up with the other Gem that split off from Pearl," she said. "I'm guessing these memories about Rose had a very strong emotional connection. So, they must be with the other Gem half. When the two of us are reunited, my memories will be whole again. And I'll know how to feel about them." She said it hopefully, almost like she was asking him if it were true. 

"S-sure you will," he told her and felt instantly guilty. It wasn't like him to tell people stuff he wasn't sure about just to make them feel better. The Gems did that to him a lot, but he tended to limit his uplifting talks to good feelings and metaphors about pork chops. 

Steven stood up. Well, he'd gone and reassured her and now he had to follow through. The only way to know for sure what the reunited Gems would act like was to actually reunite them. He had to get back to sleep and contact Coral as quickly as possible. 

"All right, I'm on a mission," he announced, pointing triumphantly towards the exit. "I am going... to bed!"

He grinned, hoping Sea Glass would share in his determination. Instead, she gave him a polite bow and said, "Very well, Steven. Good night."

\----

It turned out that taking a pre-dinner nap didn't do much to help Steven rest. He spent quite a while turning this way and that, rotating around in his bed, and counting the cracks in the ceiling to see if the number had changed since the last time he'd counted them. Eventually, however, he did manage to nod off. And unlike the other times he'd talking to one of the Gems in his dreams, he didn't float around in a bunch of nonsense worlds before finding Coral. It felt as if the instant his eyes slipped closed, he had simply appeared right in front of Coral. 

Or, rather, in back of her. They weren't standing in the middle of a lake this time, but on what appeared to be a floor of glass. Coral was kneeling down, her face buried in her sole hand, but Steven could tell it was her, just the same. She looked like Sea Glass's mirror image, only with an orangey-reddish tone to her body. And once again, the soft cries that came from her mouth had a voice exactly like Pearl's. 

_But why is she crying?_ Steven took a step forward, raising his hand in greeting. Before he could get a word out, however, she jumped to her feet. "Who's there?" As she whirled around, her one eye (on the right side of her face) stared at him with a blazing fury.

"I... um..." Steven stuttered. On one hand, he felt like he shouldn't have been surprised. This was Pearl's emotional half, after all. But Pearl almost never yelled at him. 

Coral's eye narrowed, then widened with surprise. Her pursed lips morphed into a huge grin and she ran over to Steven, throwing her arm around his waist and squeezing tightly. 

"Steven! I _so_ happy to see you!" She bounced up and down like an overexcited little sister. "So excited!" She leaned forward, cupping her hand to her mouth like she was whispering home huge secret. "It _is_ Steven, right? I got that correct?"

"Um, yes?" Steven asked, feeling more than a little weird about confirming his own name to Pearl. Even if it was half of Pearl.

"Yes!" She thrust her hand into the air in a self-congratulatory cheer. "I knew it. I just knew it. I love you, Steven, you know that? I love you so much!"

"Hold on," Steven said, putting up one hand to help clam her down. "You love me, but you weren't sure if my name was Steven or not?"

"It's _crazy_ , isn't it?" she asked, still grinning and doing a little ballet spin. "I've got all these crazy feelings about a whole bunch of different things, but I barely remember the details at all!"

 _Yeah, that's.... crazy all right,_ Steven thought, unsure if voicing the thought aloud was a good idea or not. Pearl could be a little unstable at times, but this half of her seemed to take that concept to a new extreme. 

"So... how do you feel about regenerating?" Steven asked hopefully. 

Coral froze. As quickly as she'd cheered up when Steven arrived, her face filled with fear just as fast. "N-no," she stuttered, stepping back. "I don't want to regenerate. Every time I think about regenerating, I--" She took another step backwards, and a small crack formed in the glass floor. 

"Okay, okay," Steven said, desperately trying to sound reassuring, "we don't have to talk about regeneration right now. Let's sit down and talk about..." he searched his mind for some common ground with her. What kinds of things did Pearl usually like to discuss? "...um, Gem stuff?" he finished.

"Oh," Coral gasped, her expression the closest to calm she'd shown so far. "I do remember some things. I remember all about your mother, Steven. You want me to talk about her?"

"You remember Mom?" Steven had to admit it, a wave of relief rushed over him at that. But as much as he wanted to hear Coral's stories, he felt a bit uneasy as she launched into a lecture about some epic Gem battle. Talking about Rose Quartz could either make Pearl her happiest or saddest self, and he had no clue how to gauge how this half of Pearl would react. Still, she seemed to start off okay, marching around and demonstrating various sword techniques while she narrated the fight as skillfully as movie announcer. 

"...and then she told me, 'I'm going to stay and fight for this planet...'"

As Coral went deeper into her story, she started to pace around, motioning as if the images of the battle were right there in front of them. She seemed to get so absorbed in her own words, she had almost forgotten Steven was there. He began to feel nervous again. He had no clue how much time he had left to talk like this, and he had to think of some way to steer the conversation back to regeneration. Only, said conversation seemed to be going on without him. 

"Hey, um, other half of Pearl?" Steven called out to her. 

"...when I took up my sword, dedicating myself to battle..." 

"Coral?" Steven asked. "I mean, is it okay if I call you Coral?"

"...knew we would accept nothing less than victory..."

"Hey!" Steven finally yelled. 

She leapt up in surprise and whirled around. "Oh, sorry!" she said with a nervous laugh. "Guess I got a little carried away."

_Probably more than a little,_ Steven thought, but again kept it to himself. He looked down at the glass floor and hoped what he was about to say didn't end with it cracking again. "Listen, I know it's hard for you, but... we need to talk about going home."

"Oh, to Homeworld?" Coral asked, a mix of nervousness and excitement in her voice. 

"Um, no. To Earth. Earth is your home now. That's where your gem is."

"I'm... still on Earth?" Coral's voice dropped to a whisper, and her gaze drifted off into nothingness. "No... Rose... Rose is gone, isn't she?"

And there it was. Steven's stomach felt like he had swallowed that decade-old burrito that Amethyst had once uncovered in her room. He had a hard enough time dealing with the fact that his mom was gone. And not even twenty-four hours ago, he'd had to deal with the idea that Pearl might be lost forever, too. He wasn't prepared to explain this right now. So he did the best he could in situations like this. He kept things simple. 

"Yeah," he said quietly. "Rose is gone." He reached out and took Coral's hand, squeezing it gently. "But, it's okay... we'll get through this together. Let's go back." 

At this suggestion, Coral yanked her hand away from Steven's as if it had been bitten by a snake. "I'm not going to Earth!" she shouted. She then grasped the side of her head, winced, and collapsed onto her knees again. "I want to go back to space!" she cried. "I want Rose!"

Steven's fists shook. He had never felt so helpless before, and he had no clue how to comfort her. Then, as he tried to sort out what to do, he felt a bit of anger rising in him that he should have to comfort her at all. Pearl cried over the loss of Rose, but at least she had known her. Didn't she realize how much Steven would give to have memories of her? To be able to close his eyes and relive moments with her, no matter how brief they were, no matter how they stung?

"Quit being..." the word was on his tongue. It was a terrible thing to say, but he couldn't hold it back anymore. "...so selfish!" he finished. 

She gasped and looked up at him in shock. Or that might have been Steven who gasped. He already had his hand over his mouth. How had he managed to say something that heartless? Even if he was feeling it, this wasn't the time for actually _saying_ it. He should apologize to her, explain that he'd been overreacting, or--

Her eyes narrowed at him. "Get out," she said, just as a huge crack formed in the glass floor by her feet. "Don't try to contact me again." 

Steven tried to object, but the moment Coral made her demand, she vanished from Steven's sight. He started to run forward, to see if maybe she'd just teleported to somewhere nearby, but cracks were spidering all over the floor now, pieces of it sinking away into an inky black darkness. He screamed as the glass directly beneath him gave way and his body began to fall. 

Then, with a gasp, Steven found himself awake in his bed, drenched in a cold sweat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I realize that Coral could very well be a real Gem (as could Sea Glass, for that matter), but I got all sentimental about Amethyst's line and thought even if the Gems do exist, it's possible she's never heard of them. -Katrina_
> 
> _EDIT: New episodes have now been watched and enjoyed immensely. ^_^_


	7. Fuse With Me

Peridot took pride in keeping herself informed. Never go forward without knowing everything there was to know about a situation and then some -- that was her philosophy. First thing the next morning, the Steven announced that despite his ability to prompt Pearl Half #1 into regenerating, he had been unsuccessful in getting Pearl Half #2 to do the same. (He had, of course, shared his idea for their names, which were silly and ridiculous and no way would Peridot use them.) She did pay close attention, though, when Steven described how his encounter with Pearl Half #2 had gone so horribly wrong. It was obvious, really, once he got started. Pearl Half #1 had almost all her old memories but had no clue how to feel about any of them. Pearl Half #2 had all her emotional attachments, but very few memories to explain how she had formed those attachments to begin with. No wonder she was... unstable. 

Peridot rubbed her chin. The rest of the Crystal Gems were acting very irrationally, she had to say. It was as if in all their obsession over their friend, they'd completely forgotten the Cluster existed. Was it up to Peridot, then, to signal-handedly save this world from destruction? Or would it be a more effective use of her time to aid them in their quest, thus regaining their assistance for the battle against the Cluster later on? It was a completely tactical decision to make. Certainly nothing related to "caring" about Pearl in any way. 

"Arg, what's wrong with her now?" a voice groaned from the living room. Amethyst's voice, Peridot recognized at once. She put away the charts she'd been examining and walked out to see what all the fuss was. She peered into the living room to see Amethyst yanking her hair in frustration while Pearl Half #1 seemed to be... well, flickering. She stood unsteadily on her feet with the rest of the Crystal Gems standing around her looking on with anxious faces. Peridot kept herself hidden just behind the doorframe and watched as the table behind Pearl Half #1 became visible right through her stomach for a few microseconds. That couldn't be good. 

"Seriously," Amethyst groaned, "when Pearl _is_ whole again, I'm gonna smack her into pieces for worrying us like this!" 

"Stop raising your voice; you're making it worse," Garnet said calmly. She took Pearl Half #1 by the hand and helped her into a chair. "Are you feeling all right?" 

"I... don't think so," Pearl Half #1, holding her head and looking like she might pass out. "I... feel week. Like I can't sustain this form much longer." 

"Oh, no," said Steven, gripping the edge of the table. "Are you gonna un-generate?" 

Pearl Half #1 gave him a confused look. "I'm... sorry?" she asked. 

"You know. Are you going to go back to being all inside your gem?" He pointed to the spot on his forehead that roughly corresponded to where the stone on Half Pearl #1's forehead was located. 

"That can't happen," Garnet said as if the group of them had any control over whether it would happen or not. "If she's this weak now, there's no way she'll be able to regenerate again. We need a way to sustain her." She pushed her visor further up the bridge of her nose with her index finger and gritted her teeth as she continued speaking. "I should have anticipated this. Half of a Gem can't exist for that long on her own. She needs to fuse to survive. And she needs to do it soon." 

"Well, can't she do it with one of us?" Amethyst asked. "I mean, yeah, she should do it with Coral or whatever, but maybe we can help hold her together until then." 

Garnet smiled. "Amethyst, you're brilliant." 

"I am?" Amethyst straightened herself on the stool and actually blushed a bit. "Gee, thanks." 

Peridot rolled her eyes. These Crystal Gems were far too generous with their use of the word "brilliant." Peridot would have to concoct a new word to describe her own level of intelligence to distinguish it from... whatever Garnet thought Amethyst was. 

"Come on, Half-P," said Garnet, holding her hand out. "It's Opal time." 

Peridot ducked back behind the doorframe, pressing herself again the wall. It was an impulse, her still-sane body's natural reaction to the concept of fusion. She'd seen Opal once already, of course. It seemed to be a fusion that Pearl and Amethyst, given their contrasting personalities, only formed when there was a practical need to do so. 

_Well, there's certainly a practical need now,_ Peridot thought, and the idea made her feel a little more comfortable with the whole process. She peered into the room once again. 

The two Gems had contrasting dance styles -- Amethyst's movements were lively and passionate, her sense of beat less obvious. Half Pearl #1's movements were elegant and deliberate. But then, Peridot noted as the two circled each other, she seemed to adjust her steps. Her pace picked up, her movements became a bit more edgy. Yet they never stopped looking... well, calculated. The two dancers spun around and joined hands, their bodies filling with a warm glow of white light. Almost instantly, their forms merged and Opal straightened up, bumping her head on their ceiling. She leaned down and her body seemed to adjust its size for the room. She was still taller than the rest of them were, the top of her hair pressing into the ceiling, but at least she didn't have to bend over. 

"Wow," Opal said, looking down at her own four hands as if she were surprised to see them there. "We almost never fuse that smoothly. It's like she... adjusted to me in a way that Pearl never does." 

_"She?" As if that half of the fusion is independent?_ Peridot felt uneasy all over again. When a Gem fused, as far as she could tell, she never spoke about her individual Gems as separate entities like that. It was as if the fusion in front of them had only Amethyst's thoughts and personality. Then, just as the idea passed through Peridot's mind, the fusion in front of her began to change. She shrunk down even smaller, her nose became less pointed, her irises darkened, and her skin took on a more purple tone. In other words, she seemed to be transforming into Amethyst. 

Garnet must have recognized it at the same time Peridot did. "Unfuse!" she demanded. "Now!" 

What was left of Opal glowed white and the two Gems fell away from each other. Amethyst took a roll to somewhere under the table while Half Pearl #1 simply collapsed where she stood. 

Peridot couldn't stand it any longer. Didn't they all see how stupid they were being? She marched out from behind the doorframe, taking a position in the center of the room where she could point an accusing finger at each of them with equal ease. 

"You clods!" she snapped. "What are you thinking? You're trying not to overwhelm her, and yet you try a fusion with the most aggressive Gem here? What did you _expect_ to happen?" 

Amethyst climbed out from under the table, rubbing her head. "Hey, I did my best!" she snapped. 

Garnet rubbed her chin. "It's not anything you _did,_ Amethyst," Garnet said. "It's your natural personality. I had a feeling it wouldn't work out, but I don't know what else..." She paused mid-sentence, her voice going silent but her lips still moving. Talking to herself? Or, perhaps more accurately, talking _with_ herself? 

"A fusion with me would be disastrous," she stated. 

_Like that wasn't obvious,_ Peridot thought. If a two-Gem fusion was overwhelming, then a three-Gem fusion would devour what little was left of that Pearl-half in a second. 

The Steven ran over to the Pearl-half's side, trying to get her stand. The two of them failed miserably; the Pearl-half stumbled and knocked Steven over when she started to put weight on her legs. Then the flickering sped up, becoming more and more frequent. 

"Well, what do we do then?" the Steven demanded. Much to Peridot's dismay, his eyes fell to her as he spoke. "Can't _you_ try to fuse with her?" 

"I-I..." Peridot stumbled backwards. No, she did not fuse. Never had and never would. There was no useful combination of Gems that involved a Peridot back on Homeworld, therefore Peridots didn't fuse. That was the natural order of things. 

"If Peridot's not comfortable with the idea, she's going to do more harm than good," Garnet said. She folded her arms and looked hesitantly between the floor at her feet and Pearl Half #1. "Sea Glass needs someone to fuse with who isn't too aggressive and who's used to being part of a whole." She placed her hand on her chest. "She needs Sapphire." 

A collective gasp rose up in the room, as if Steven and Amethyst had planned it ahead of time. 

"What?" Amethyst exclaimed. "You're gonna unfuse? You never do that! Ever!" 

"What's Ruby gonna say? Isn't she gonna be upset?" The Steven was kneeling by the Pearl-half's side now, lifting her head. Her body was becoming transparent more often than it was staying opaque. Pearl Half #1 seemed barely able to keep herself conscious. 

Garnet chuckled at the boy's question. "Steven, Ruby and Sapphire _are_ me. This is an agreement between both of them. Pearl's our friend, and we'll do what we can to help her. Even if..." she hesitated, only for a second; the others probably didn't even notice it. "...even if it means we have to be apart for a bit." 

Then, before anyone had the chance to argue with her any more about it, Garnet placed her hand on her chest once again, and her body let of a soft, white glow. In an instant, her height decreased, and her two halves (which Peridot had only been able to theorize about up until now) stepped away from each other. When the light faded, Peridot raised her eyebrows at what she saw. She suspected a Ruby had been part of the fusion -- they were common enough, at any rate. But a Sapphire? She'd never even met one in person before. She felt a compulsion to bow politely or ask the Sapphire if there was any technology she needed assistance with. Peridot shook the sensation off quickly, of course. Still, it was scary to think that there were some ways that she didn't behave all that differently from a Pearl. 

Well, at the very least, seeing the Ruby and the Sapphire separate made Peridot feel a little more comfortable around them. Not that she would say that aloud. The Ruby looked like she could (and would, if insulted enough), twist Peridot up like one of those "prez-stalls" she'd seen the Steven consuming once. Even now, as everyone else stood looking at them in shock, she punched her hand into her open fist. "Okay, let's do this!" she said. 

Pearl Half #1 managed to sit up a bit more. "Are you... sure you want this? I don't want to bother..." 

"Hey, no talking like that!" Ruby snapped. "I said I wanna, so I wanna, okay? Save your energy for fusing." 

The Pearl-half still looked hesitant. While Ruby tried to talk to her, Peridot saw an opportunity. She took the Sapphire by the hand and pulled her back a few steps, keeping her voice low so the others wouldn't hear. 

"Hey, I seem to recall someone giving me a full-on lecture about lies of omission and some other such nonsense," she muttered. "And I know what a Sapphire is capable of. Be straight with me... how long is your fusion going to function? A week? Two weeks?" 

Sapphire only smiled. "It'll last long enough," she said then walked over the Pearl-half's side. Without waiting for any more excuses, she smiled and took the Pearl-half's hand. "Come on, Sea Glass," she said. "Fuse with me." 

It was a command. A gentle command, but a command nonetheless. And if Peridot could barely resist the Sapphire's authority, then the Pearl-half had no chance. Their two bodies began to glow and the shape of their forms merged into one. Steven and Amethyst watched the whole thing tensely, while Ruby shuffled her feet and looked off to the side.


	8. Corundum

At first, Peridot wasn't completely sure the fusion had succeeded. The two Gems seemed to take a much longer-than-average time to form, as if they couldn't decide if being together was an advisable idea or not. However, when they did eventually settle and the resulting fusion stopped glowing, she seemed stable enough. 

Her outfit was a deep blue skirted leotard, the sleeves and upper half much in the style of the Sapphire's attire, with the foot coverings clearly inspired from the Pearl's. She reminded Peridot of a dancer that she had seen on the image cube once. She had two eyes -- each a slightly different shade of blue, and her sky blue hair cascaded down to just past her shoulders. The Steven stared at her in wonder, mouth slightly open.

"Oo, should I come up with another name now?" he asked. 

"No!" everyone in the room said in unison. Amethyst, Ruby, and Peridot all looked at each other awkwardly, while the new fusion stifled the most ladylike giggle Peridot had ever heard. Sapphire and Pearl were each elegant in their own way, but this fusion had a manner about her that would have made her blend in at any high-class Homeworld gathering. 

"You may call me Corundum," she said. Her voice was deep, but comforting. Like... well, a little like Rose Quartz's, if Peridot had to put a Gem to it. The thought made Peridot extremely uncomfortable. 

"Steven," Corundum said, turning to him with a serious look. "This fusion won't last indefinitely. It's up to you to convince Coral to regenerate as soon as possible."

The Steven's eyes widened at the responsibility she had just placed on him, and at once, he looked extremely unsure of himself. "Hey, Corundum? You've got future vision, right? So, can't you just tell me how I do it?" 

Corundum smiled and rubbed his head. "Things happen in their own time in their own way, Steven," she said. Given everyone else's expressions, they probably took her statement to be very wise and knowing, but Peridot saw it for what it really was. A sweet-sounding sentiment that actually meant nothing at all.

\----

With the immediate crisis solved, the crowd around Steven filed out of the kitchen. Corundum said that her fusion would last the longest if she found a quiet place to do some low-energy meditation. Amethyst said the whole situation was way too tense and headed for her room to give her junk a good pounding. Peridot said they were all a bunch of clods for standing around and she was going to do something useful like go back to building the drill. 

Steven didn't disagree with any of them, but the fact remained that he hadn't eaten breakfast, so he went over the table and set himself up a plate and a glass of juice. Ruby followed behind him, rubbing her arm and looking unsure of what to do with herself. When Steven put a bagel in the toaster and sat down to wait for the _ding!,_ Ruby cocked her head and then took a seat next to him. She tapped on the countertop, which made a much louder sound than Steven expected it to. 

When the toaster finished and Steven slipped off his stool, Ruby continued to watch him intently. 

"Hey, you, uh... want something for breakfast, Ruby?" Steven asked, opening up the cabinet to the array of cereals. 

Ruby tensed up. "Um, breakfast?" she asked. 

"Yeah," Steven said. "We've got everything." He pointed to each box in turn. "Sugar Puffs, Sugar-O's, Sugar Cubes... oh, wait... that's not a cereal. Those are actual cubes of sugar..." He pulled out several of the boxes and felt kind of silly when he remembered that Ruby wasn't a stranger in the house. She'd been there when they picked all this cereal up at the store in the first place. When he looked across the table, though, Ruby didn't seem insulted that he'd forgotten this fact. She more seemed to be stressing out. 

"Breakfast?" she asked, mostly to herself. "Do I want breakfast? I don't need breakfast, but Steven might like it if we eat breakfast together." She rubbed her chin. "Sapphire," she said to the blank space next to her. "Do I want breakfast?" She took a pause. "Yes, that's a good point." She turned back to Steven. "No breakfast for me today," she said, a little more loudly than it seemed like she needed to. "I'm good." 

"Um, who were you talking to?" Steven asked, slowly arranging the cereal boxes on the table and going to get his toast. 

Ruby held her head. "Arg, nobody!" she yelled. "That's just the problem!" She put her face down on the table. Hard. "Steven, I'm going nuts here. I'm always used to Sapphire and I making decisions together. Trying to decide anything on my own... all I wanna do is second-guess myself." 

Steven nodded sympathetically. He didn't have too much experience with fusion, of course, but he understood plenty about second-guessing himself. It was practically a hobby. He placed the toast on his plate, poured himself a bowl of Sugar-Os, and sat down next to Ruby.

"You should talk to Corundum," he suggested. "Tell her how you're feeling. Maybe that would make you feel better."

"Arg, you don't get it, Steven!" Ruby said, lifting her head and giving the table a good pounding. "It's hard enough to hold a fusion together when one Gem is hesitant. If they both hesitate, the fusion falls apart." As if to illustrate her point, she smacked the table once again, this time hard enough to form a crack in it. Steven lifted up his plate and bowl to protect them from falling while, Ruby blushed and quickly pulled both her hands onto her lap. 

"I know that Sea Glass was hesitant to do the fusion," she said. "She was worried about separating us, but she went through with it anyway on Sapphire's order. Sapphire needs to stay confident in that order for the fusion to survive."

Steven looked sadly over the array of cereals he had left out. For the second time in as many days, he didn't feel so hungry anymore. "Hey," he said. "Concern is an emotion, right? So, maybe she's not as... y'know, emotionless as we think?"

Ruby tried to smile. She wasn't terribly good at it given the state of things, but it was a genuine effort. "Maybe you're right," she said and left it at that.

\----

Peridot sat in the barn and looked over the schematics for the drill, but she might as well have been looking at jibberish. Nothing added up. It disgusted her to admit it, but she missed that annoying Pearl. Even though Peridot's own intellect was far superior, she couldn't deny the fact that Pearl was knowledgable enough to share her ideas with. Back on Homeworld, everyone just assumed Peridots knew what they were doing and only acknowledged them when their inventions failed. Having someone to helpfully point out where Peridot could do better without threatening to poof or shatter her was... refreshing. 

But Pearl was gone. And she wasn't coming back unless Peridot herself did something. It was sweet, really, how the Crystal Gems were trying so hard to solve the problem with talks and hugs and whatever else it was they had up their sleeves. Sweet, but stupid. Peridot had her own idea in mind for what they should be doing for Pearl. In fact, she had what she would call a most excellent idea. The trouble was, it had some serious drawbacks. For one, she would need access to a much better computer system than the one he currently had at her disposal -- she needed something that could actually interact with the un-generated Gem directly. She had reason to believe that Pearl might have such a system in her room, but of course, Peridot didn't have access to that. She could ask Steven or Garnet, but she had a strong feeling both of them would want to know what her plan was first. And then she would have to tell them, and then they definitely wouldn't give her access to the room. No, she needed someone who was willing to go to extremes. Who didn't mind taking a few risks. She needed Amethyst.


	9. Peridot's Plot

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We'll be skipping the usual weekly update next week as we're getting pretty involved with an original project at the moment, and the last chapter is turning out to be... a bit long. (It might ultimately be split into two chapters, but we'll see how that goes.) Thanks so much for reading!

It turned out that actually getting Amethyst isolated from the others was more difficult than it seemed. If she wasn't helping keep the Ruby sane, she was off chatting with Steven or making sure Corundum was okay. Peridot went to corner her when she had decided that the best place to take a nap was under the porch. Apparently, the Gem had a thing for sleeping in dark, tight places. 

"Hey, I... need your help." That sounded odd to say. Peridot did not make a habit of so much as allowing others to assist her, let alone outright asking for assistance. Still, this was a desperate situation. 

Amethyst stirred and turned around, opening one eye to look at her. 

"Yeah, um... I don't really do technical stuff," she said. "If you want help with that, you can try asking Corundum, but she's mostly still doing that meditating thing--"

"No, no, that's not the area I require assistance in," Peridot said. "I simply need access to Pearl's room." 

"Pearl's room?" Now Amethyst was sitting up and paying full attention. "Whatdya need in there?"

Peridot had no clue was the word "whatdya" meant, but she assumed that Amethyst was questioning her intentions and proceeded to explain, "After talking with the Steven, I believe I've come up with a conclusion as to why the second Pearl half is refusing to regenerate. I believe I can force a regeneration." 

"You can?" Amethyst grinned. "Well, that's great! Let's go tell the others!"

"No!" Peridot exclaimed. Then, getting a hold of herself, she said quietly, "No, we can't bring them into this. This has to be just the two of us."

"What? Why?" 

Peridot gritted her teeth. All the times she'd seen Amethyst interacting with the other Gems, she usually just followed along with their plans. Why did she have to go questioning things now? But Peridot wasn't about to be accused of being a liar all over again. These Gems wanted the whole truth from her, then that was exactly what they were going to get. 

"In the interest of full disclosure, I'm going to connect to the memories inside this Pearl-half, and I'm going to erase the ones that are causing a disruption." 

"Whoa, whoa, back up. You're going to connect to Pearl's memories and do _what_?" 

Peridot winced from the volume. She'd expected her suggestion wasn't going to go over well, but she'd been hopeful that Amethyst would at least listen to it before exploding at her. 

"Think about it," she said. "Steven just explained to us that this... this... what did Steven call her?"

"Coral," Amethyst answered, with a tone that implied she didn't think much of the name. 

"Yes. This Coral is having issues dealing with some bad memories. But if we take those memories away, she'll regenerate right away. Pearl will be safe."

"I don't know," Amethyst said, rubbing her arm. 

Peridot rolled her eyes. They were losing valuable time there. "Look, you've only got three options." She held up one finger. "The first, and the best, I might add, is the one I have just proposed to you." She held up another finger. "The second is to push enough energy into the Pearl half to agitate it until we force the Gem inside to regenerate in her own self-defense."

"That sounds better than screwing with Pearl's memories!" 

"Does it now? What happens if Coral gets stubborn? Because if that happens, the gem might very well shatter before she decides to show herself."

Amethyst scowled and kicked at a mound of dune grass. "Fine, you made your point," she grumbled. "What's choice number three?"

"Choice number three is that we do nothing. I'm assuming you're not too keen on that." 

She wasn't. But Peridot had known that even before coming down here to look for her. Every day that the other Gems just tried their hardest to hold Sea Bass (or whatever Steven had named her) together, Amethyst got more and more frustrated. She was a lot like Peridot, in that way. Never one to sit and wait. She was a doer. Like Pearl. 

Amethyst stood and shook the sand off her feet, but still didn't look Peridot in the eye. "I get where you're coming from," she said. "I think you might even be right. But last time I tried to keep something a secret from Garnet, it kind of exploded in my face. I think we need to ask the others what they think."

"And if they say no and your precious Ruby blocks _both_ of our access to Pearl's room? You'll be satisfied with that?" 

Amethyst stomped her foot, sending up a spray of sand around them. She just needed one more small push. Peridot cleared her throat and tried her best with a sympathetic voice. 

"Look, I'm not erasing any happy memories here. I'm erasing the ones that are hurting her. I'm doing her a favor _and_ saving her life. But I can't do any of that without you."

Amethyst made no reply at first, nor did she lift her head. She was so still and silent that Peridot wondered if she'd been temporarily frozen in time or something. "This... memory-hacking thing," she finally asked, "is it something you can do to any Gem?" 

"No, no, not at all," Peridot said. "That's what so brilliant about it! See, you're thinking of a Pearl like an actual living being with feelings, emotions, ect. But that's not what they're designed to be. They're designed to be accessories. Objects. So their minds can interface with computers as smoothly as any piece of hardware."

Amethyst looked irritated at that, which Peridot didn't understand at all. It wasn't like any of them could change what Pearl was. Better to stop denying their friend's nature and use it to their advantage for once. 

"Could... someone do this to you?" Amethyst asked. "I mean, if they wanted to?"

Peridot stiffened. "Technically speaking, it would not be a stretch. But as no one currently desires to access my mind, it is a moot point."

"I'm just saying... if you were in Pearl's position, would you want this done to you?"

Peridot scoffed. It was a ridiculous hypothetical scenario that would never happen. And even if it did, Peridot knew what her reply would be without question. "I am interested first and foremost in survival. If hacking into my memories proved the best method for said survival, yes, I would fully encourage it." 

Once again, Amethyst entered silent mode. She looked at the ground, shuffled her feet, but gave Peridot no indication on her decision. It was incredibly infuriating, given the time crunch they were under, but Peridot forced herself to be patient. 87% of the time, patience always paid off. 

Finally, Amethyst looked Peridot in the eye and said, "I can get you into Pearl's room. But we need to break into Steven's first. That's where Coral's gem is."

"Very well," Peridot said with a grin. It was quite a relief to be past the diplomacy part of her plan. Now she could move ahead to where she really shone -- tactical planning. "First, we need then is to plot the Steven's movements, analyze his behavior patterns, and determine the time of day when he is most likely to be absent from his sleeping area--"

"Crying Breakfast Friends is on in twenty minutes," Amethyst said, waving off her suggestion as she walked past. "Steven will be glued to the TV in the living room. Just sneak in there when the characters are sobbing at full volume and no one will notice you." 

Peridot scoffed as Amethyst ducked out from under the deck and walked onto the sunlit beach. "Y-yes. Well... we could do that, too."

\----

It was actually Amethyst who got hold of Coral's gem. Something about how Peridot failed at a series of movements called "looking casual". With no stealth whatsoever, Amethyst walked into Steven's room, picked up the gem from its resting place, and walked back out with the gem in one hand and some sort of brightly-colored confectionary item in the other. 

"Amethyst," Steven called from downstairs, his eyes not moving from the image cube. "Did you go in my room and take snacks again?"

"Sure did!" Amethyst called back, loudly swallowing the confectionary item whole. 

Peridot froze. Did Steven suspect their ulterior motives? Did he have some sort of surveillance technology hidden in his room that they'd failed to notice? Did he--

"Ask first next time!"

"Sorry! Will do!" Amethyst gave Peridot a smug _and-that's-how-it's-done_ sort of a look as she pocketed the pearl-half and walked down the stairs as if nothing had happened. Peridot followed behind her nervously. They still had to actually get to Pearl's room. 

Amethyst motioned for Peridot to follow her to a strange door with a large white star at the center of it. The gateway to Pearl's room, perhaps? Whatever it was, it was located directly behind the couch, putting them even more in the Steven's line of sight than they'd been before. 

The instant the door slid open, Steven shot up and looked behind him, staring at Amethyst and Peridot with eager eyes. "Ooo, are you going somewhere?" he asked.

Amethyst shrugged. "I'm showing Peridot my space," she said. 

_You're what?_ Peridot was about to argue that with the door open, it was going to be fairly obvious where they were walking, but then she saw to her surprise that the room revealed behind the door seemed to be... well, most resemblant of a trash dump. And while Peridot had not actually been in any of the Crystal Gems' rooms before, she took an educated guess that when Amethyst said this was her room, she was being accurate. 

"Can I show Peridot your space too?" Steven wanted to know. 

For the first time, Amethyst looked a bit nervous. She froze at the door's threshold. "Eh... better not, buddy. I've been reorganizing stuff in there. The piles that could fall and splatter your squishy little body aren't as... steady as they usually are."

"I've got a shield," Steven offered. 

"You do," Amethyst agreed, "but let's not put you in a spot where you have to use it. Pearl will kill me if she comes home and finds you flat as a pancake."

Steven giggled. "He-he-he. Pancake." Finally, he turned around and faced the image cube once again. Amethyst signaled for Peridot to follow her and the two walked through the doorway. Peridot heard it slide closed behind them. She was most disappointed to discover that her first analysis of this room was all too accurate -- the two of them were surrounded by endless piles of useless junk. 

"This isn't Pearl's room," she said, pinching off her scent sponges so they could absorb as little as possible. 

Amethyst stopped and placed both hands on her face. "Oh... no! You're so right! I'm such an idiot!" She fell down on her knees. "Arg, if only I could recognize the difference between the place where I spend most of my time and the place that I only go into if I absolutely have to!"

The two stood there staring at each other for a few moments before Peridot finally asked, "You're... applying sarcasm to your words, aren't you?"

"No!" Amethyst gasped. She then got up, dusted herself off, and gave Peridot what she assumed was supposed to be a playful punch on the arm. It was more painful than playful. "Will you give me some credit, Peri?" she asked. "You know your way around technology, and _I_ know my way around this temple." She started to walk down the path that curved around her mountains of junk. Peridot hurried along after her. 

"You're right," she said as quietly as possible. Even she had to admit, she never would have made it past the Steven if it hadn't been for Amethyst. She kept the rest of her complaints to herself for the moment and followed Amethyst to a waterfall adjacent to a stack of tires. Peridot stared up; the water seemed to be cascading through a giant hole in the ceiling and landing in a pool of water that never seemed to change size, despite the constant feed above it. When Peridot and Amethyst reached the water's edge, the latter suddenly pulled out her whip. 

"What are you--" Peridot began. Amethyst flicked the whip upwards and it caught on something out of sight. She gave a few good test tugs and after deciding that it had held firm, she held out her arm for Peridot. 

"Come on, let's get moving."

"Um, okay..." Peridot walked over to Amethyst nervously, who scooped her up like a piece of luggage and tucked her under her arm. 

"Hang on," she said. As if Peridot had a choice in the matter. Then, the two of them were soaring upwards as the whip become shorter and shorter. When they crested the top of the hole where the water was flowing into, Amethyst flung them both into the air, landing them safely on the smooth, polished floor of what Peridot could only assumed was Pearl's room. The whip had caught on what appeared to be a crystalline rose and Amethyst untangled it with one smooth motion, making the weapon vanish as she pulled it free. 

Peridot rubbed her head and stood to look at their surroundings. Pearl was an engineer at heart, so that meant her room had to be filled with all sorts of useful Gem tech. Perhaps she had even developed some as-yet-unknown-to-Homeworld technology in her spare--

"No." Peridot moved around in a circle. Instead of being surrounded by screens and buttons and wires, she was surrounded by... pretty waterfalls. 

"No, this can't be right." She turned in a circle again, in case she'd somehow viewed the place wrong the first time around. Her plan was not going to work with the primitive junk in the house. She needed Pearl to be smarter than this. The Gem couldn't have built her dwelling space all around aesthetics. She was supposed to be _intelligent_. She was supposed to be--

In her frustration, Peridot punched one of the waterfalls right where its watery gut should have been. As her fist connected with the water, she felt a surge of energy flowing through her. Peridot yelped in surprise and jumped back. 

"What the?" Amethyst asked, running up to her. "The water bite you or something?" 

Peridot rubbed her hand. No, it hadn't hurt. It had just been unexpected. And it wasn't just energy that had been flowing into her in that split second. It was information. Almost as if Peridot had connected with the center of a Homeworld computer.

She grinned. Then she threw her head back and laughed maniacally, as only a true Peridot could. It was brilliant -- insanely brilliant. If someone would have showed her this room a mere matter of weeks ago and told her that a Pearl, of all Gems, had designed it, Peridot would have called it impossible. 

"Oh," she said, clapping her hands together. "This is perfect. Exactly what we need." 

"Um, you need waterfalls?" Amethyst asked. 

Peridot didn't answer that question. Far better to actually demonstrate what the place did. Still cradling the salmon-colored pearl in her palm, she walked over and placed her free hand into the nearest stream of water. Only the stuff wasn't merely water. It was a way to conduct information. By connecting to the water and focusing her thoughts, Peridot could take control of the entire room. It was one massive computer, both beautiful and brilliant. 

But she was getting ahead of herself. They didn't have time to stand here and be impressed. Peridot shifted her hand slightly and imagined what they needed. A short marble pillar rose up next to her, about the size and height of a coffee table. With another thought from Peridot, a small indent appeared in the center of the "table"'s surface, perfect for placing the gem into. She did so, and the whole pillar lit up with a soft blue glow, which Peridot took to mean that she had established a connection. This was good. This was excellent even. It was a shame that the other Crystal Gems would appreciate her strategy until after she was finished. But at least she had Amethyst with her. 

"So," Peridot said, turning at last to Amethyst, "tell me which memories I'm erasing."

Amethyst staggered back at the question. "What? Why would you ask me something like that?"

Peridot blinked for a moment, unsure how to answer the question without implying that the purple Gem was a few sparks short of a circuitboard. "I... would ask you because you know what memories in Pearl's past would be bad enough that they'd stop her from regenerating." 

Amethyst rubbed her arm and looked away. "I... I don't wanna make a decision like that, Peri. Can't you.... I don't know, look at your computer, and just analyze what you should do?"

"It would be nice if emotions worked that way," Peridot said with genuine longing. "But unfortunately, they're not so easy to quantify. I need a specific event to pinpoint."

Now Amethyst looked even more uncomfortable. Which either meant that she felt bad for coming this far and having no clue which memories they should be targeting. Or, the more likely scenario, she knew exactly which memory to target and didn't want to say so. It became even more clear that the latter was the case when Amethyst started muttering to herself. 

"...guess that wouldn't be so bad. Maybe she'd even be happier without it..." 

Peridot tapped her foot. Slowly at first, but she picked up the pace the longer the silence stretched out. "I'm not trying to rush you, but if I could just remind you that eventually, the Steven is going to notice that the Pearl-half is missing, and that fusion that calls herself Corundum isn't going to last forever. We need to do this."

Amethyst stomped her foot, as if Peridot was somehow the cause of these unpleasant facts rather than the Gem who delivered them. "Fine," she growled. "Pearl's worst memory is when Rose died. Target that." 

"Thank you," said Peridot, turning and placing her hands back in the water basin. Finally, they were getting somewhere. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply as a vast amount of information flowed into her. She had to take this carefully; one step at a time. Within the water, she envisioned a channel connecting her thoughts to the Pearl-half's. Then the channel formed and Peridot felt like she was walking through a fog. 

_I'm doing it,_ she thought with excitement, _I'm inside the Pearl-half's mind._


	10. Regeneration

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, after trying to fit in vain everything in one chapter, I finally had to split it up. No worries, there is a chapter 11, and it will be posted next week. Thank you to OMAC001 over at FF.net for the suggestion on Sea Glass and Coral's weapons. -Katrina

Peridot stood in awe, surrounded by information. However, she was limited in what she could process. She was a very practical Gem, as a rule, and walking around in Pearl's head, where any aspect of her personality could manifest as... well, pretty much anything, proved itself a challenge.

The first things she could identify in this strange place were Pearl's emotions. These took the form of shapeless clouds around her -- some small, with soft pastel colors, others large and violent. Peridot groaned with frustration. Were there any memories in this crazy Gem's head at all or was it just a mass of feelings and impulses? She shook her head. No, the memories were here somewhere. She just had to work a little harder to find them. She approached the largest cloud, one that looked like it might strike her with lightning at any moment. When she narrowed her eyes, there seemed to be something like a piece of cloth sticking out of it. Was that how memories were manifesting themselves in this place? Peridot stepped up and fingered the cloth's edge. As she did so, her chest tightened, and she thought she heard someone screaming. Peridot gasped and released the cloth, taking few steps backwards. The space around her was silent once again, save for the sound of the cascading water around her. 

_Okay, so that was definitely a memory I just held._ This was good. Now she just had to make sure it was the _right_ memory. She stepped up again, mentally preparing herself this time, and gripped the cloth tightly. Now that she knew what to expect, connecting with the memory wasn't so jolting -- it was almost like hearing something on the radio or the image cube. In this case, she was hearing the moment that Pearl got news of Steven's birth... and, at the same time, of Rose's death. It wasn't a yell of shock or horror, but a deep-throated cry of anguish... the voice of someone who'd known the inevitable was coming and had done everything to convince herself that, somehow, the outcome would be different. 

The exact moment when Rose Quartz stopped existing -- this was what was stopping the Pearl-half So this was what Peridot had to get rid of. 

Peridot gave the memory a good, hard tug, expecting to yank it right out. However, it seemed to be entangled with another memory of a slightly lighter color. Not releasing her grip on the first memory, Peridot reached out and touched the edge of the second. This one was still unpleasant, but not like the first. Sounds flickered in Peridot's ears, this time of Pearl and Rose fighting alongside each other in some sort of battle. Peridot tugged harder, but she only managed to pull more and more memories from the cloud's center. 

Then, Peridot heard a distant voice above all the chatter: "Um, Peri? You almost done? I think I hear someone coming!"

Peridot gritted her teeth. This far submerged in Coral's subconscious, she couldn't hear anyone approaching. She had to finish this job and fast. If the memories were too entangled with each other to separate the problem one, she'd just take out the whole thing. Less chance for trauma that way. She continued pulling until the last memory tangled in the mess came free. Instantly, the world around her began to shake. The pile of memories at her feet faded from existence and Peridot felt herself being hurled backwards, rejected from Coral's mind. She grinned. 

_It's happening! The Gem is regenerating! I'm brilliant! I'm a genius! I'm--_

She blinked and suddenly found herself standing side by side with Amethyst. The purple Gem was looking nervously in front of her. Peridot rubbed her sore head and followed Amethyst's line of sight, only to see Ruby standing a few feet away. Her eyes were ablaze; even without the full power of her usual fusion, she looked more than prepared to tear Peridot apart. 

Steven stood nervously behind her, holding Corundum's hand. 

"What," Ruby asked, her rage barely contained, "did the two of you do?"

Peridot almost laughed at the question. What did the two of them do? They probably just saved Pearl's life, thank you very much for asking. Peridot opened her mouth to explain her genius when a flash of light came from the gemstone still sitting on the pedestal. Peridot crossed her arms with satisfaction. This was even better. Now Coral herself could explain how Peridot had rid her brain of that painful weed of a memory. The stone floated upwards, and a white light stretched out from it, forming the shape of a body. When the light faded, the Gem that stood there didn't look all that different from Pearl's other half. Her single eye and gem were on the mirror side of her face, and her skin was more of an orange-cream color, but physically, those seemed to be only differences. 

Emotionally? That was a completely different story. The moment Coral had regenerated, she looked around her with a fierce determination in her eyes. This side of Pearl wasn't waiting for anyone to give her any orders. She was going to give them. As her eyes locked with Steven's, she seemed to be irritated for a moment, and stepped towards him. Then she let out a sudden gasp. 

"Coral?" Steven asked. He release Corundum's hand and started to walk towards the orange Gem. Ruby put out a hand and blocked his path. 

"Hold on a second, Steven," she ordered. 

Coral seemed frozen in her tracks. Her eyes widened and her whole body quivered. Then she collapsed onto her knees and gripped the side of her head. 

"No..." she whispered. She squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again, as if trying desperately to see something that wasn't there. Two or three more times she tried before she said again, "No... no... why can't I remember? No!"

Steven pushed his way past Ruby (who looked none too happy about his insubordination) and hurried up to Coral's side. "What's wrong? What can't you remember?" 

At first, the Gem didn't answer. She just stood there quivering; Peridot almost feared she might revert back to her gemstone right there on the spot. But finally she seemed to gather herself enough to whisper, "Rose. I can't remember Rose."

"Ah, the Rose Quartz!" Peridot said, snapping her fingers. "Of course! That was the connecting factor, why the memories were all so entangled with each other. No wonder I had to erase them all."

There was more gasping. Peridot really had to hand it to these Crystal Gems; it seemed to be a favorite pastime of theirs. But now instead of one angry Gem looking ready to kill her, Peridot had two. 

"You... you erased _everything_?" Amethyst growled. "You said you were only going to take the memory that was hurting her the most!"

"Hey, memories are complicated things!" Peridot snapped back. " _You're_ the one who gave me a memory to look for that was tangled up with so many other ones! You should have picked some... I don't know, more standalone traumatic event!"

Coral hugged herself, her head bent down. "You two... you did this to me?" she asked. 

"Hey, we got you to regenerate!" Peridot said. "No one else was doing anything! You would have been trapped in that gem forever if it wasn't for us!"

Coral seemed to be considering this for a moment. She got to her feet and looked Peridot and Amethyst over in a methodical, analytical sort of a way. Then, when her contemplation was complete, she took a step forward and reached for the jewel on her forehead. In one smooth motion, she drew out a white dagger and pointed it straight at Peridot's chest. "I think we've had a misunderstanding. You go into my head, you rip away the most precious memories I have, and you want me to _thank_ you for it?"

"Coral, stop!" Corundum cried, but she didn't move from her place. 

Much to Peridot's shock, it was Amethyst who first came to her defense, stepping between Coral's dagger and Peridot's chest. "Whoa, whoa," she said, pushing the end of the blade to the side. "Let's just calm down for a second. No one's stabbing anybody here, okay?" 

Coral, apparently, disagreed. She repositioned her blade so that it was now pointed at Amethyst. "You..." she said. "I don't know why you, of all Gems, would betray me, but I'll at least listen to what you have to say. That one--" She briefly flicked the blade to point behind Amethyst at the cowering Peridot, "--isn't getting any mercy. Move. Now!" 

Amethyst looked nervous, but continued to hold her ground, putting out her arm to block Coral from walking around her. It didn't make any sense. Why would Amethyst side with Peridot so easily over a Gem that she'd clearly been friends with for a long time before this? Because she didn't want to see Peridot hurt? Because she agreed that Peridot had made the correct choice? Both options seemed equally implausible, and yet there Amethyst stood. Coral narrowed her eyes, indecision quickly fading from her expression. 

"If you want to fight me, that's your choice," she said. "But don't think I'll hold back!" She raised her dagger, and Amethyst started to draw her whip as well. But something stopped Pearl's blade short, and it wasn't Amethyst's weapon. Peridot's eyes widened. She blinked twice, trying to make sense of the scene in front of her. The other half of Pearl, the one that did nothing but snivel and ask for someone to give her orders had countered Coral's move and was now blocking's Coral's blade with what appeared to be a long white staff. 

"You... can't hurt Amethyst," she said, straining under the pressure of the blade. She made an attempt to push Coral away, but it only halfway worked. Coral lost her footing slightly at Sea Glass's shove, but quickly regained it. Peridot looked around to see where Sapphire had gotten off to, if Sea Glass had split away from her, but to her surprise, she found Garnet, not Sapphire, standing off to the side. 

"Wha-- when-- how did you refuse that fast?" Peridot hissed. 

"Magic," Garnet replied impassively. 

Coral acted as if she didn't hear the conversation or it didn't matter to her and continued to put pressure on Sea Glass's weapon. "How dare you!" she snapped at her counterpart. "You don't understand anything. You don't know what anger feels like. If you had any emotion, anything at all, you'd _hate_ Amethyst right now! You'd hate both of them!" 

Sea Glass looked like she was about to agree, to hang her head like a scolded puppy and walk away. But instead she held her ground. "You're right. I don't feel any anger right now. And I... I know that I should. Rose meant a lot to us. It was wrong of them to go into our memories like that."

"If you think all Rose did was 'mean a lot to us', then you haven't got a clue!" Coral spat. She then drew the blade back and made a quick jab towards Sea Glass's throat. 

Rather than countering, Sea Glass jumped back at the threat. "We can't fight each other!" she said. "We have to fuse back together! We have to make Pearl again!"

Coral barked out a laugh. "Me fuse with you? Are you serious?" She raised the blade, this time as if she planned to bring it down on her counterpart's head. Peridot could tell that it was not meant to be an actual attack; like her previous swipe, her aim was completely off and there was no muscle behind it. But it scared Sea Glass enough that she gasped and held her arm up to her face in a pathetic attempt to ready herself for taking a blow. 

"Pathetic," Coral said, withdrawing the blade. 

A cowering Sea Glass lowered her arm, her cheeks taking on a bluish tone, no doubt for having been tricked so easily. 

"You are everything I've always hated about myself," Coral continued. "You don't know how to do anything other than cower and obey. I bet they would've loved you on Homeworld. Just think... a Pearl that doesn't need to suppress her feelings because she doesn't even _have_ any. How convenient is that?"

She started to tear up a bit. "You don't even feel any love for this world. If Steven or whoever you think your master is, told you to blow it up, you'd do it without a second thought."

"Steven would never tell me to do that!" Sea Glass yelled, seeming to find some of her courage again as she straightened and tightened her grip on her weapon. "He loves the earth and everyone in it. And Rose did, too! It's true I don't feel things like you do, but--"

"Don't you dare talk to me about Rose!" Coral snapped. "You want to prove you're worth keeping around? Show me you're willing to stand up for something. Show me you're willing to fight." 

Sea Glass was not willing to fight. Peridot could see it in every aspect of her -- her stance, her expression. She had all the enthusiasm and self-assertion of any normal Pearl. That was to say, none at all. 

And still... still she raised her staff. "Very well," she said. "If there is no other option, then we'll fight."


	11. Pearl's Battle

"No, no fighting!" Steven cried as the battle began. Normally it seemed like his pleas in this group had the uncanny ability to make the Crystal Gems do what he asked without question. This time, however, the effect was lost. The two Pearl halves exchanged blows as if it hadn't spoken at all. He started to run after them, reaching out his arms to break them apart, but Garnet quickly snatched him up and pulled him to her chest. 

"Steven, you're not going to help anything," she said, then looked at Amethyst, who had her whip ready and seemed only to be calculating which half of Pearl would be the easiest to nab and yank back. 

"Stand down, Amethyst!" Garnet snapped. "This is Pearl's battle. You have to let it play out." 

"What?" Amethyst exclaimed. "Have you lost it? What if one of them gets poofed?" 

"They're not going to poof each other," Garnet said sternly. "They're looking to disarm each other, to get the other to admit that she's the inferior one. They can't get that if one of them disappears." 

"Oh, well, _that's_ good to know," Peridot muttered sarcastically. She could see Sea Glass hesitating to throw her full weight into the blows, but Coral was so blind with fury, her Pearl-like precision could easily go amiss. 

Steven fell on his knees, tears welling in his eyes. "This can't be... there's got to be some way to settle this without a fight," he said. "Can't _you_ stop them, Garnet?" 

"And do what then?" Garnet asked in frustration. "Order them to play nice and refuse with each other? It won't happen." 

_And even if it would, you'd rather see your friend poofed than forced into a fusion._ It was a sentiment that was written all over Garnet's face and one that Garnet herself probably found very noble. But in this case, it was stupid. Just stupid. 

The two halves of Pearl continued to battle each other -- a swipe of the dagger, a sidestep, a swing of the staff, a dodge. It truly was like watching one of them battle her reflection. Unfortunately, it was also coupled with a slight flicker, starting in Coral's left leg, but then mirroring itself in Sea Glass's right. 

_They can't sustain this much longer,_ Peridot realized. _They're going to vanish. And if they do, they might not ever come back._

Steven was crying in earnest now, large pathetic blobs of liquid spilling onto the translucent floor. Sea Glass glanced over her shoulder and looked upset by his distress, but had to turn quickly to counter one of Coral's blows. 

Peridot crossed her arms. She had no intention of jumping into the middle of this mess, especially when one of the fighters had expressed so strong a desire to skewer her. But something about watching this display infuriated her. Pearl had been whole once, hadn't she? Somehow these two parts of her personality had worked together before. What was so difficult that they couldn't do it now? 

"You... you clods!" she yelled at the two fighters. She pointed to Steven. "You're both throwing up a ruckus about Rose Quartz? Whose gem do you think _he_ has, hmm? Or are you too busy trying to impale each other to notice?" 

Her words seemed to freeze Sea Glass in place. She turned and looked at Steven again, stopped and really looked at him. Coral saw the opening and made a mad charge. 

"No!" Steven screamed and reached out his arms. Although Garnet still stopped him from sprinting forward, he began to form his shield. A pink bubble of light encompassed himself, Garnet, Amethyst, and Peridot. It then spread far enough to bring Sea Glass under its protection as well, but stopped short of Coral, causing her to fall backwards as she charged into it. 

Coral let out a grunt as she fell, and Steven dissipated the bubble. Its size must have been far beyond his normal capabilities, Peridot reasoned, because he collapsed the second his arms fell. Garnet cradled him, and a worried Amethyst patted his face. 

"Steven? Hey, little man, hang in there!" 

Peridot found herself unable to move. The Steven had to be okay, didn't he? He was half Gem. Surely he couldn't injure himself from a mere weapon summoning, could he? 

Sea Glass said nothing, but let her weapon clatter to the floor as she hurried to join her friends. Coral got to her feet and started to reach for her dagger. Then she looked up at the scene before her, and her eyes grew wide with fear. 

"S-steven!" she said, scurrying over and leaving the weapon behind. "Steven, are you okay?" 

As the crowd of Gems gathered around, a dazed Steven slowly came to. "Ugh... little Stevie has a stomachache..." he murmured, then closed his eyes once again. 

A collective sigh of relief arose from the group. 

"He'll be okay," Garnet assured everyone, resting Steven's head on her lap. A strange and awkward silence fell over everyone. Sea Glass and Coral eyed each other, then the weapons on the floor. Whoever ran for their weapon first would have a distinct advantage in the resumed fight. But neither one looked interested in making that run. 

"Coral," Sea Glass finally said. "You're wrong about me. I'm not missing all my emotions. I love Steven. And I'd do anything to keep him from getting hurt." She made a dismissive motion to her staff where it had fallen, and it vanished at her command. 

Coral's cheeks went red. "I-I care about Steven, too!" she said. "You think I don't care? I was horrified when I thought he was hurt." 

"But by not re-fusing, _we're_ hurting him," Sea Glass argued. "And we're keeping ourselves from reaching our full ability to protect him." Her face softened. "Rose told us to protect him. I don't remember the exact moment, but I remember repeating it to myself every day, any time I thought he might be in danger." 

Coral tightened her hand into a fist, staring at the floor. "Rose is..." she said in a hoarse voice. 

"Rose is gone," Sea Glass replied, not matter-of-factly, but not welling up with tears like her counterpart was, either. "Not just her, but all the Gems that fought beside us in the Rebellion. This is all the family we have left. But that's exactly why we have to cherish it." 

For a long time, Coral said nothing. Then, still without looking at anyone, she waved her hand in the direction of the dagger on the floor. It disappeared with a sound like shattering glass. 

"There's so many bad memories," Coral said. "I don't the details, but I know how I felt. We saw fighting. We saw death." 

Sea Glass nodded. "Yes. We saw a lot of that." 

"If we refuse, I'll have to see it all again." Tears welled up in Coral's single eye. 

"You will," Sea Glass said softly. "But we'll work through it together... the way we were supposed to." 

Coral nodded and reached out her arm, pulling her counterpart closer. The two of them both began to glow. The warm light flooded the space, and Steven stirred again. He opened his eyes once more, and even sat up this time, albeit with a little assistance from Garnet. 

Then the light faded, and there, collapsed on her knees, sat Pearl. The full Pearl. Well, with a few subtle changes. Her hair fell to her sides, her sash was now tied with a symmetrical bow in the back, and she had two gems on her forehead instead of one. But when she looked up and smiled at the group around her, her face was nothing but familiar. "Hello, Steven. Hi, Garnet." 

"Pearl!" Steven exclaimed. He nearly tackled her as he threw arms around her. She put one arm across his back, then with the other, patted him gently on the head. 

"I missed you, Steven," she said. Then she glanced up and locked eyes with Peridot. Peridot made her best attempt to smile back, but she must have done it wrong. Pearl tensed up upon seeing her. She released Steven and got to her feet, stumbling backwards and muttering to herself, 

"Come on... we can't split up already..." 

"I'm not splitting... I just want to teach that Peridot a lesson!" 

"No, no more fighting!" 

"It's not fighting. I'll poof her before she takes a swing back." 

"Whoa, whoa, that's enough now," Garnet said calmly. She stood and motioned for everyone to take a step backwards, especially Peridot and Amethyst. Everyone obeyed her without question. Garnet walked up and gripped Pearl by the shoulders. "Pearl, you can't keep fighting with yourself. This isn't going to be like before. You've got to adjust to having two Gems, not one." 

Pearl's breathing sped up a bit, but then, as Garnet continued to hold her, she seemed to calm down. "Why is this... so hard?" she finally asked, voice cracking. 

"Because fusion is hard," Garnet said. "Because you've always had conflicting feelings about yourself. You've confident in the skills you've learned, but you doubt your inherent value." She reached up and moved a stray piece of hair out of Pearl's face. "I know you can do this. You're strong." 

Pearl stood whimpering a bit more, but then at last she seemed to collect herself. She gave Garnet a quick embrace and then wiped the tears from her eyes. 

"Come on," Garnet said, heading towards the exit, "let's go back to the kitchen. I hear Coral and Sea Glass are great at baking." 

"Yes, baking!" Steven suddenly exclaimed. He jumped up, completely recovered, it seemed, from his earlier collapse, and hurried to tag along with them to their destination. He sprinted ahead of Garnet towards the warp, and Pearl laughed and followed behind both of them. "Well, Sea Glass brings a certain precision to the whole process," she began, "but Coral really has that creative edge that pulls it all together..." 

_Well, glad to know everything's all right again,_ Peridot thought, starting to follow as well. Amethyst, however, grabbed her hand and pulled her back. "We'll leave in a second. Don't want to set Pearl off again." 

"Oh. Yes. Of course." Peridot said awkwardly. As she watched the other three leave, Peridot experienced a most peculiar feeling. Something in her felt a certain imbalance about her actions in this room. She did not know why; she should have felt nothing by satisfaction in her victory at saving Pearl's life. And yet she felt the opposite. Like she had wronged Pearl somehow. It was not a pleasant at all feeling, and at first, Peridot had no clue how to make it go away. But she would figure it out. She had adjusted to everything else on Earth. Getting Pearl to forgive her was simply another challenge. 

\---- 

It was late that evening when Peridot found Pearl sitting on the edge of the cliff overlooking the beach. Pearl had a strange, distant expression, as if she were pondering a deep question and hoped the water would answer it for her. Gentle waves glinted with orange and red highlights from the setting sun and Earth-birds yelled out their annoying calls. If the ocean _was_ talking to Pearl, Peridot sure wasn't picking up on the message. She swallowed hard. She had spent the last five and a half hours working tirelessly, studying and preparing for the perfect apology. Now all she had to do was deliver it. For some reason, this felt much harder than the preparation itself. 

"Um, hello. Pearl." 

Pearl turned around and although her eyebrows raised when she saw Peridot, she did not attack her this time or have an argument with herself about attacking. A good sign already. 

Peridot cleared her throat. "I have, um... come to regret my previous actions taken in your room. It was... morally incorrect of me to handle your memories without consulting you. I would, uh... like to offer my apologies and receive your forgiveness in return." Peridot gave a small smile, rather pleased with herself in executing Earth etiquette so perfectly. Yes, Pearl would obviously still be upset over the disruption of her memories, but that didn't mean it had to affect their friendship in any way. 

Much to Peridot's frustration, however, Pearl just stared at her, frowning. 

"Peridot," she said. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I... don't think I'm ready to forgive you." 

"What?" Was Pearl not listening earlier? Peridot had performed all the required forgiveness-seeking customs to perfection. There was no reason she should have been turned down. "But I apologized. I viewed all of your Earth entertainment sequences and they clearly displayed that one party requests forgiveness, the other party--" 

"It doesn't work like that!" Pearl snapped. She looked like she might stand up and walk away, but instead she hugged herself and took slow, jagged breaths. "Listen... Peridot," she said. "I am... barely holding this fusion together. One part of me wants to forgive you and the other part wants to attack you. The best I can do is keep my distance from you. Do you understand?" 

Peridot did not understand at all. The only thing she got was that standing next to Pearl seemed to be threatening to drive the fusion apart. So, as per Pearl's request, she backed up and walked away. 

_Heh, a Peridot taking orders from a Pearl. Can't sink much lower than that._ She tried to smile at her silent joke, but the expression wouldn't come. Her feet dragged as she made her way back to the precarious wooden structure that Steven called "house." As she walked, she saw another Gem coming down the path in the opposite direction. Peridot frowned. 

Garnet. Of course. Now that they were both fusions, Garnet and Pearl probably had all sorts of... fusion things to talk about. Probably if Garnet screwed up and asked Pearl to forgive her for something (or vise versa for that matter), it would be all hugs and happy hand-shaking, and the rest of it. Peridot hung her head and crossed her arms as she and Garnet passed each other, but to her surprise, the Gem gave her an encouraging nod. 

"Don't give up," she said. "Pearl isn't too keen on forgiving Amethyst right now either. It's going to take time." 

Peridot nodded. Time. She didn't see why she had to wait at all. If Pearl was going to forgive her eventually, why couldn't she just do it now? But Peridot was still Peridot. She could be patient, if that was what it took. 

"I... appreciate the advice," she said and left it at that. 

\---- 

When Peridot had left, Garnet sat down next to Pearl on the cliffside. Pearl knew she was there, but that was the nice thing about Garnet. You didn't have to exchange words with her to have a conversation. For a long time, they simply watched the ocean together. 

"Peridot ask you to forgive her?" Garnet finally asked. 

Pearl nodded. There was a long pause between them, broken up by the sound of seagulls and crashing waves. 

"I'm guessing you talked to Amethyst earlier," Garnet finally went on. "She ask the same thing?" 

Pearl nodded again and wiped a tear from her eye. "I'm so awful, aren't I? Even knowing how it felt when you wouldn't forgive me, I can't let go of that anger. All I think about is Rose, and..." She held her head. The pounding in her ears had almost started to feel like a familiar sound. 

"How do you do it?" Pearl whispered when the pounding had subsided. "Stay fused for so long when Ruby and Sapphire are so different? I mean, I'm two halves of the same Gem and I can't do it, even though it should be simple." 

"Fusion's never simple," Garnet said. "Pearls never fused much on Homeworld, did they?" 

Pearl shrugged. "Sometimes. Your owner tells you to put such and such away, and it's on a shelf three times your height... fusing with a fellow Pearl can come in handy." She tried to smile, but her face seemed to reject the expression. Garnet watched her, her own expression unreadable behind her visor. 

"I want to tell you something I remember about Rose," she said after a while. "It was a few days after the two of you accepted me into your group. I watched you practicing swords together. Will you listen?" 

Pearl nodded. She wasn't completely sure she would like what she was about to hear, but then again, without having any real memories of Rose now, what could it hurt? 

Garnet stared out over the ocean and began her story. 

\---- 

_"Win!" Rose announced when she had cornered Pearl with her sword. She wasn't not happy about the win, though. It had come too easily again. Many Gems fell to Pearl simply because the shock of seeing a Pearl with a sword at all made them drop their guards. But when Rose, who knew Pearl's weak points, came at her, she fell every time._

_"You're still too hesitant," Rose began, pulling back her blade. "You're getting better at charging, but when someone comes at you in return, you back off."_

_"I... I'm trying," Pearl said, standing and panting from exhaustion. "I'm trying, my Quartz, but--"_

_"I told you, there's no Homeworld hierarchy here. Call me Rose."_

_Pearl straightened and blushed. "F-fine then, my-- erm, Rose... Quartz. If I may be so bold, I want to say that... that I think you're expecting too much of me." She dropped the sword on the ground. There was nervousness in her voice, even fear. She'd never questioned Rose before, no matter how many times Rose emphasized to her that they were on equal footing. This was new territory._

_"And why do you say that?" Rose asked, casually examining her own blade and avoiding eye contact._

_"Because I... I think sometimes you forget that I'm just a Pearl!"_

_There, it was out. The unspoken tension that always floated between them. Rose stiffened at the words, but seemed determined to make no more reaction to them than that._

_"I know you're stuck with me because you couldn't get anyone better," Pearl continued, tears welling up in her eyes. "If I could wish myself to be a Jasper or something more useful to you, I would but--"_

_"I would never wish that," Rose said. "I would never want you to be any other Gem."_

_"What?" Pearl asked in shock._

_"If I could change one thing about your life," Rose went on, "I'd have rescued you earlier, take you before anyone ever told you what a Pearl is 'supposed' to be. Because you can be anything you want, my Pearl. Anything."_

_Pearl blushed madly. "D-don't call me that!"_

_"Why not?" Rose asked, smiling for the first time._

_"Because... it makes you sound like you're beneath me. It's completely inappropriate!"_

_"Stop calling me 'my Quartz' and I'll stop," Rose said with a giggle. She then pointed the tip of her blade towards Pearl's weapon. "Now, pick up your sword, and we'll try again."_

\---- 

Garnet ended the story there. No big concluding statements, no summary of lessons she might have learned. Just a simple sharing of what Pearl had been craving -- a memory of her time with Rose. 

"She called you 'my Pearl' for the longest time," Garnet said. "Not to call you a possession. She meant it as the highest form of respect, just like you called her 'my Quartz.' She wanted you two to be on equal ground." Pearl smiled at the memory. Even in those early days, Rose Quartz had displayed her love for others, Gems and humans alike. 

"The name drove you nuts," Garnet went on, "because it sounded so wrong to you. Finally, you got in the habit of calling her Rose, and she went back to calling you Pearl." 

Pearl smiled and touched her cheek, not at all surprised to find it damp. "Thank you for that, Garnet," she said. Then it occurred to her that she didn't think of Rose as "my Quartz" in her head. Whatever memories she had lost, that hard-won name had stayed etched in her mind. And the confidence that Rose had cultivated in her... that remained as well. Rose had left something in her that no one, not even Homeworld with all their awful machines, could erase. 

And for now, at least, Pearl could be content with that. 

The end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that's it - I hope the ending was satisfactory. I like stories that end with the protagonist being a much different person than s/he was at the start of the story, and that's what I tried to here, too. As for whether or not there will be more chapters, I am absolutely in favor of it, but I want to have a strong idea first. I'll be brainstorming as the new episodes come out this summer, but if anyone has any thoughts, feel free to let me know in the comments. Thanks so much for reading! Also, if you happen to be a fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender, please be sure to check out Rowan and my new story: Switched Powers, Hidden Powers. First chapter is up now! -Katrina


	12. Two Paths

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're back! Given the hiatus, there's a bit of recapping in this chapter, but hopefully it doesn't distract too much. Thanks for reading!

Pearl talked to mirrors. Any time she passed one, any chance she got. This was because seeing two of herself made her more comfortable with the idea that... well, now she really had two of herself. 

It had been six weeks since her personality had been split in two -- each side becoming its own unique half-Gem. And while they were refused for the moment and Pearl was whole once again, the situation remained delicate at best. 

Pearl laid her hand against the full-length mirror in the living room. She stroked its smooth surface and lowered her head, staring at the reflection of her own feet. 

"We can't harbor this fury forever," she whispered. That was her knowledgable half talking -- beautiful, intelligent, but delicate. The Sea Glass. The other half of Pearl was the thorny, emotional half. The Coral. And Coral lowered her head to no one. 

Pearl's chin jerked up, her face twisting into a snarl. "Sure we can," she said. "Because Amethyst and Peridot deserve it."

Pearl's eyes fell. "They didn't mean to do anything wrong. They only meant to protect us." 

"Amethyst, maybe. But if Peridot had told us what Homeworld technology could do, we wouldn't be in this predicament!" 

"If we had trusted her and not gone prodding around in that room alone, we wouldn't be in this predicament!"

Pearl gave out of a yell and summoned a weapon -- a dagger. Without thinking, she trust it into the mirror. The effect was beautifully destructive. Cracks spidered out from the impact point, forming a web of lines that sent glittering specks of glass floating to the floorboards like razor-sharp snowflakes. 

Pearl heaved with the effort of her attack on the inanimate object, and rather than trying to yank the dagger out of the mirror, she dismissed it from existence. The hunks of glass that it had been holding in place fell down with a less-than-satisfying crash. Steven's footsteps hurried up the front porch. 

"Hey, is everything--" he began to ask, opening the door. He looked at the mess on the floor, Pearl's position in front of the destroyed mirror, and shook his head sadly.

"That's the last one," he said. "I mean, the TV's still intact, and I guess you could still see your reflection in that if you..." His eyes went wide. "No, forget I said that! Let the TV live!" He scurried upstairs to protect his prized possession. Pearl wasn't upset to see him go. She was embarrassed enough to be acting like this in front of him to begin with. 

With the thumping of Steven's footsteps up the stairs, Pearl sunk down in the sea of glass shards and covered her face with her hands. 

_Why?_ part of her asked, _why can't I let this anger go?_

She looked up at the ceiling, waiting for the other half of her to inevitably answer. _Because I'm afraid. I'm afraid that letting any little offense go will show I'm weak. I don't want to be that cowering servant again. I can't go back to that._

"Hey, Pearl," Steven called from the loft. Of course he still worried about her. He was Steven. He worried about everyone. 

"This is... just an observation," he said nervously, halfway hidden by the railing. "But sometimes it feels like you're trying to be two people at once. Walk two paths, you know? But you're not split anymore. You're refused."

She tried to smile up at him, but it must have looked more like a grimace, because he rubbed the back of his head and let out an awkward laugh. "Anyways, um... I'm gonna watch a show now." He ducked out of sight. 

Pearl heard the clatter of the remote as Steven fumbled with it, then the dull background noise of incessant commercial jingles. She picked up one of the larger pieces of glass and turned it this way and that, trying to glimpse her reflection. The piece couldn't catch her whole face, however, so she instead held it in such a way that she could see both gems on her forehead. 

Steven was right, even if he didn't realize how or why. She'd been trying all this time to go down two different paths at once. But life couldn't work like that. If she didn't make a decision, she was going to tear herself apart. 

"Thanks for the talk," she whispered, even though she knew Steven couldn't hear. "I know what I have to do now."

\----

"And _this_ is for you!"

It was a few days later when Amethyst plopped something very large and heavy on Pearl's lap. In normal circumstances, Pearl might have wondered if Amethyst was demonstrating the dangers of books by attempting to poof Pearl with the sheer weight of one. However, given the delicate state of their friendship lately, she had to at least assume that Amethyst's gift had good intentions. Pearl looked down at her lap and ran her fingers along the book's crisp olive green spine. There was a square on the front cover into which Amethyst had slipped a photo of Rose Quartz -- something that looked like it had been taken at one of those carnival photo booths. 

_A photo book. Wonderful._ Pearl's stomach turned. Amethyst's thoughts were nice, but they didn't change the fact that without her memories, photos of Rose Quartz didn't mean much to Pearl, other than remind her of what Rose had looked like. And, of course, what she'd lost. 

Still, she _had_ had promised herself that she would at least attempt to mend things with Amethyst, and it would be impolite to put the book aside without even looking at it. So Pearl summoned her energy and cracked open the cover. Her eyes widened. She flipped through page after page, but it wasn't the photos that fascinated her. In fact, for the thickness of book, it didn't contain that many photos at all. But next to the ones it did have, there was at least half a page of writing. Amethyst had written, in every detail she could remember, all that had happened in each event pictured. Most of her words focused on what Pearl and Rose were doing and of course it had her own unique narration, "Note the joyful smile on Rose's face as she enjoys an ice cream cone while Pearl holds to her opinion that awesome things are disgusting." 

Pearl sat there, she had no idea how long, reading over every detail, trying to etch back in her mind the events that had been pulled out. Amethyst, despite her typical impatience, sat and watched her in silence, swinging her legs and bumping the coffee table now and again, but otherwise, remaining silent. 

"How long did this take you?" Pearl finally asked when she reached the last page. 

"Oh, years," Amethyst said, waving her off. "I pretty much started making it as soon as you and I met because I figured someday I'd really hack you off and then I'd need a way to apologize." Pearl rolled her eyes, which made Amethyst grin widely. "A few weeks. Vadalia helped a lot. Most of the photos were hers." 

Pearl stiffened up a bit at this, and Amethyst quickly clarified, "I didn't give her any details about why I needed them. Just said I was making something." 

Relief poured over Pearl, and her shoulders dropped. She could see the frustration creep into Amethyst's face.

"Y'know, you shouldn't be so embarrassed about telling people you're a fusion now. It wasn't like it was your fault," she said. "You even tell Greg yet? Or Lapis?" 

"No, and I don't plan to!" Pearl snapped. 

Amethyst crossed her arms. "I'm sorry, I know it's none of my business," she said. "But you're gonna have to tell them sometime. You can't keep using shapeshifting to hide your second gem like that." She poked Pearl in the middle of the forehead, where there appeared to be a single gem. Her two real gems she had cleverly hidden in the projection of her hair when Greg had visited a few hours before. 

Pearl sighed and released the illusion, reverting back to her form that left both gems on her forehead visible. Amethyst was right, of course. In fact, Pearl had always been the one to complain that Amethyst would hurt herself one day overusing shapeshifting the way she did. But the truth was, Pearl didn't shapeshift purely to hide her re-fused state from Lapis or Greg. She did it because it helped her pretend that things had gone back to normal. That she was still a single Gem and not two half-Gems that still struggled to get along. 

"Sorry," Amethyst said again. "Arg, this was supposed to be about me doing something nice for you, and it turned into me bugging you all over again." 

"No, no, no," Pearl said, and the book almost slipped off her lap, She grasped it quickly, and put it safely on the coffee table. "Amethyst, this means a lot to me. Really. Thank you." She attempted a genuine smile, and to her surprise, it wasn't that hard to summon. Whatever Amethyst had done, she had done it with the intent to save Pearl's life. She couldn't hold that against her. Not really. Despite all its flaws and frustrations, their friendship was stronger than that. 

"I'm... I'm not angry with you," Pearl finally said. Amethyst looked at her, and Pearl knew there was no need to clarify. It was time to start moving on. 

\----

_Meanwhile, on Homeworld..._

The yellow Pearl knew her place and was perfectly content with it. Delighted, even. Of course, she wasn't just any Pearl. She was a Pearl belonging to the great Yellow Diamond. Were there other Pearls who could also claim this honor? Of course. But very few. On occasion, she even got to tell off a few Gems that most Pearls could never speak up against. She was an extension of her owner. And there was no better way for her owner to say, "You are not worth my time" than to send a message via her favorite household accessory. 

"Yes, yes, put it there," she heard Yellow Diamond saying from the next room. Apparently, some sort of delivery had arrived. The yellow Pearl twisted her fingers nervously. Her Diamond hadn't called on her once this whole morning. She was starting to wonder if she'd done something wrong. But Yellow Diamond was never subtle about such things. If Pearl stepped out of line, she knew in an instant. Not that she ever stepped out of line. 

"Exquisite," came Yellow Diamond's voice again, followed by another Gem's voice that the Pearl couldn't quite make out. 

"Yes, yes, it's in the next room," Yellow Diamond said dismissively. Pearl stiffened. _They can't be talking about me, can they?_ She had a very uneasy feeling about what sort of delivery had just been made. 

The other Gem's voice spoke again, this time with some sort of question. 

"No, no, don't shatter that one," Yellow Diamond replied. "I'm gifting it to a Nephrite that's taking a mission out to Earth. It can get the coordinates from the home system." 

The yellow Pearl felt panic seizing her. She quickly hurried to the nearest console and placed her tiny hand inside. Information flowed into her, dates, logs, notes of all sorts. And the most recently added item was her worst nightmare come true: 

Log date: 7 15 4

Scheduled delivery: Pearl, Facet-8H2T, Cut-4SY

Scheduled removal: Pearl, Facet-8H2T, Cut-4SA

The information on her new owner was there, too, but Pearl couldn't bear to look at it. Of course, she knew she could go out of style at any point. But this quickly? With no warning? How long before higher-up Gems no longer gifted her to someone lower but disposed of her instead? 

Being gifted to a Nephrite already... that was already sinking a bit low. 

The yellow Pearl hugged herself as the sound of a larger Gem's footsteps approached the room. She couldn't even raise her head to see who was taking her away. One thought replayed itself in her head, and it paralyzed her: _I'm no longer wanted by Yellow Diamond. I'm being replaced._


	13. Peridot the Spy

Peridot had grown frustrated with a great number of things on Earth, but she had to say that securing forgiveness from Pearl had to be one of her most difficult challenges to date. It was systematically unfair. Pearl and Amethyst were talking again like nothing had ever happened. Peridot suspected it had a lot to go with the memory image paper stack that Amethyst had recently gifted to Pearl. Amethyst had all kinds of stories she could share with Pearl about Rose Quartz, and the two had had an existing friendship before the little incident with Coral's memory wipe. It was practically inevitable that they would make up sooner or later. So what was Peridot supposed to do then? Just sit around and wait until Pearl decided to stop being mad at her? No. Peridot did not sit around for anything. When she didn't have a solution, she mined for data until a solution came to her. She offered her apologies to Lapis, but said that she might be spending a significant amount of time back at the temple for next few days. Yes, she would observe the Crystal Gems until she knew them inside and out, better than they knew themselves. 

Lapis claimed that she didn't notice (or care, for that matter) when Peridot left, but Peridot knew that was just her way of saying they were best buds and Peridot would be sorely missed in her absence. 

Armed with her tablet, tape recorder, and a box of tin cans to practice her metal skills on, Peridot set off for the temple (and the precarious wooden living structure attached to it). She spent the next several days staying out of sight -- watching, analyzing. Had to keep the data pure, after all. If the Gems knew she was observing them, they might act differently. 

Her cover was unintentionally blown on the third day in when Amethyst and Garnet were taking a stroll past one of her more expertly camouflaged hiding locations. 

"Um, Peri?" Amethyst called out to her. From her crouched position in the branches, Peridot could only make out the purple stars on Amethyst's knees. "Not that I'm judging or anything, but why are you in a bush?"

Peridot grunted. Well, Amethyst was designed as a Quartz soldier, so it was only natural that she would spot Peridot, however cleverly she had chosen to hide. Peridot emerged from the bush, with only a few stray leaves clinging to her hair. "Excellent observation. I was in a bush because it is green, and I am green, and green against green is harder to see."

"Uh... huh." Amethyst crossed her arms and looked at Garnet. 

"I think what Amethyst meant," Garnet said, "is why were you hiding in the bush to begin with?"

"No reason," said Peridot quickly. "It's just... a thing. That Peridots do sometimes. To cope with... stressful situations." 

Garnet nodded. "Makes total sense," she said, looking back at Amethyst once again. 

Peridot shuffled her feet and looked up and down the cliffside that held the temple and the coastline behind them. Pearl was nowhere in sight. Probably in her room, rearranging her swords or reprogramming some faulty waterfalls or something. If Peridot wanted the opportunity to ask questions unimpeded, she wouldn't have a better chance than now.

"Soooo..." she said as casually as she could, leaning towards Amethyst in a very non-conspicuous way. "It seems as if you and Pearl are getting along again."

"Oh, yeah," Amethyst said with a nervous laugh. She kicked the sand a bit and rubbed her arm. "I mean, it's still a bit rough, but we're getting there. I've been trying to tell her everything about Rose Quartz I can remember."

"As have I," Garnet said. "It's not the same thing, but I think Pearl is learning to deal with that in her own way."

Peridot scowled. None of this was information she could use. In fact, all of it was information Peridot had inferred already. As useful as this conversation was, she might as well be asking the squeaking seabirds if they had any good suggestions. 

For just a moment, the smile on Amethyst's face faded, and she looked out towards the waves. "It's just a shame, though," she went on. "I mean, I can fill her in on stuff I remember after I joined you guys, but..."

"...but no one can tell her what happened between her and Rose Quartz at the start of the Rebellion," Garnet finished. 

Amethyst hung her head. "Yeah." 

Peridot froze. This was perfect! Absolutely perfect! With Garnet and Amethyst's words, she at last had her breakthrough. Her approach to getting Pearl to forgive her would be the same as Amethyst's -- she would attempt to fill Pearl in on all the data surrounding Rose Quartz that her brain was still missing. And she knew exactly how she would do it, too. All the modern Homeworld ships came with plenty of data storage and all were well-stocked with images, video, any history at all that a commanding Gem might need to call to make an informed decision in a battle. Surely every little detail of the Earth rebellion was also there. All Peridot needed now was to get access to a Homeworld ship, hack into its highly complex security system, steal the data relating to Rose Quartz, and present said data to Pearl. 

She gave a long sigh and returned to her spying spot in the bush while Garnet and Amethyst headed back up to the house. Apparently, Steven had scheduled them all for something called a "video game session" this afternoon. Steven was quite capable of gaming independently, Amethyst said, but he did appreciate the Gems' moral support -- virtual death was "emotionally exhausting", and to make matters worse, his lion tended to wander off with his things when he wasn't looking. 

Peridot sat down, then promptly stood up and pulled a spiky branch out from under her leg, then sat down again. 

"Oh my goodness!" she could hear Pearl exclaim from Steven's open window. She tensed, wondering if the place was under attack, only to hear Amethyst follow up with, "Go for it, bro!"

She sighed and relaxed. Humans and their forms of entertainment were so confusing. She had other things to deal with. She fiddled with one of her cans (to the sound of Steven chanting, "No! No! Jump! Jump!") and tried not to get too discouraged, but it was difficult. To implement even step one of her plan, she needed to gain access to a Homeworld ship. Really, what were the odds are her running into something like that?

\----

"I detest being sent on these types of missions," the Nephrite said aloud as she worked the controls of the small ship. Her fingers shifted across blinking lights of all colors without so much as a glance down, so well did she know the panel in front of her. Yellow Pearl shuffled her feet, unsure if her new owner was expecting a reply to her statement. With Yellow Diamond, she had always known her duties and fulfilled them to perfection. What was she supposed to do now? 

_You're supposed to stop acting defective and quit thinking about what you like or don't like,_ a voice in her head seemed to say. 

The Nephrite glanced in Yellow Pearl's direction and turned up her nose. "You're a noble gift from Yellow Diamond, but I do wish they would have delivered you when I had time to find a place for you. This is hardly a mission for a Pearl to be along. But I suppose it can't be helped." 

Again, Yellow Pearl had no clue if she was supposed to respond or not, and while she deliberated, the Nephrite got an even more annoyed look on her face. "Do you talk, Pearl? Or did the courier somehow deactivate that feature?"

Yellow Pearl stiffened. This was simply too much. Repossessed, insulted, treated like... well, like a _common_ Pearl. Even an accessory had its limits. "Yes, I speak perfectly well, thank you," she said, arms at her sides like a Quartz soldier. The Nephrite was not impressed. 

"Good. Then understand this. I didn't ask for you. I find Pearls too frivolous an item for my tastes. But it would be an insult to my Diamond to discard you. Do me a favor and act as much as possible like you don't exist."

_Which means you want me to reply when you talk to me or you don't?_ The contradiction was almost enough to make Yellow Pearl's head hurt. As long as she had her new owner's attention, however, she supposed she could risk speaking once more. 

"May I be so bold as to ask what this mission entails?"

The Nephrite gave a grunt of a reply at first and shifted her hands to the left side of the panel, her fingers working in a delicate dance on the keys before she moved them to the center of the panel once again; her eyes never moved from the monitor in front of her. "I've been assigned to check on the status of two items: the Earth cluster, which has not activated as scheduled, and a ship containing five Rubies which set off in search of a lost Jasper." 

Yellow Pearl blinked in surprise. She was aware of what the cluster was, of course, and that it had been off-schedule. But still, they were not that far outside the range of possible dates for its awakening. Yellow Diamond was usually much more patient than that. As for the Rubies, well... they were Rubies, after all. An occasional misdirection was more or less standard procedure with them. 

"The Earth seems to be a quagmire of my Diamond's lost possessions," Nephrite mused. "Perhaps, with some luck, I will lose you in it as well."

"Y-yes... of course." Yellow Pearl swallowed hard, bowed, and retreated to the back wall. This was more serious than she had first thought. Not just a matter of having to get used to an owner with different expectations, but having to cope with an owner who didn't even want her. It seemed the safest thing for her to do right now was simply to fade into the background and hope her Nephrite didn't "accidentally" leave her behind on this miserable planet. 

_What if I do get left behind?_ She gripped her hands and took a few deep breaths to calm herself. No, she could not continue to tolerate this. No matter what it took, she would find someway to get Yellow Diamond to repossess her. She would do something so wonderful, so amazing, she would make herself the most valuable Pearl on Homeworld. Then her Diamond would welcome her back. Yellow Pearl took a tentative step out of her corner, just enough to glance at the passing stars outside. Perhaps this... "Earth" held some promise to it after all.


	14. An Old Friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next few chapters will involve events that have taken place in canon, so there may be a few time skips. First event, of course, is the appearance of Bismuth. :) Hope you enjoy!

Pearl still couldn't believe it. Even after having a lengthy conversation and walking all the way to the old forge, she simply couldn't believe that Bismuth was back with their group. Her mind swelled with excitement as Bismuth examined Amethyst's whip for ways to improve it. In Pearl's giddiness, she had even come close to dropping her shapeshifted single-gemstone disguise when Bismuth took her spear and handed her back a trident. (She had to hand it to herself, the slight of hand she had pulled to make it look like she had summoned the spear as a single weapon, and not a staff and dagger, was quite impressive.)

"Now... come show me what you got, soldiers!" Bismuth announced when Amethyst had had her fill of slapping rocks around the room. The forge master began to motion the group towards the exit, and Pearl's face fell with disappointment. Why were they leaving so early when there were so many interesting things in here that Bismuth hadn't even explained to them yet?

"Wait!" she called out as the group turned to leave. She pointed to a stunning silver sword mounted to the nearest wall. "What was that one called?" She then moved her finger towards what looked like a set of full plate armor. "And who did you make this for?"

"Aw, come on, P," Amethyst whined. "No one wants to stand here getting weapon lectures. We wanna, y'know, try out our new weapons."

Bismuth put her hands on her hips and laughed. "Now, that's the Pearl I remember!" She stepped over and patted Pearl on the head. "Aw, man... every time I presented Rose Quartz with a new weapon design, you were right there with her, asking every little detail about how it worked. Sometimes poor Rose couldn't even get a word in."

"She couldn't?" Pearl asked. Then realizing how awkward it sounded, she cleared her throat and said more confidently, "She couldn't. Yes, that was me. Is me. Very inquisitive." 

Bismuth shook her head in a guess-I've-got-no-choice kind of way. "Okay, okay," she said to the rest of the group, "'you guys wait for me outside the forge. I'll give Pearl a little personal tour in here."

The group reluctantly agreed (Amethyst more reluctantly than the others, it seemed), and Bismuth began her tour. She explained how each item was crafted in response to some dilemma on the field -- the armor, for example, was made to stand up to a Gem destabilizer, while a handsome-looking lance gave some Crystal Gem soldiers with short-range weapons the chance to strike their enemies from farther back. Pearl was especially happy to find that as Bismuth spoke, many of the details surrounding their battles with Homeworld still sounded familiar to her. At the very least, she could chime in with enough details so as not to rouse suspicions about the gaps in her memories. 

"Oh, and what about this one?" Pearl reached for a tiny weapon on a nearby shelf -- it looked like a miniature version of a Gem destabilizer. Or perhaps, a tuning fork with a pulsing blue glow was the best description for it. Pearl turned the item side-to-side and trying to figure out how one would even activate it. Of course, Bismuth being Bismuth would never tell point blank what a weapon did. She had a flare for the dramatic. 

"Well, I'll give you a little hint," she said with a wink. "It wouldn't have any effect on your or me, but it'd be a disaster for those mega-Rubies Homeworld loved to send against us."

Pearl tilted her head. She thought she had found the switch on the thing, but wasn't quite sure. "So... it only works on... red Gems?" she guessed, assuming there was more to it than that, but letting Bismuth have her fun. 

Bismuth let out one of her full, joyful laughs. "Of course not!" she said. "It breaks apart fusions."

"It does _what_?" In her surprise, Pearl tightened her grip on the weapon, activating what she now confirmed was the on switch. The weapon released a short blast of energy that dispersed itself into Pearl's body. She let out a yelp, dropped it, and jumped backwards. Only, as she leapt off the ground, her body split into two, Sea Glass and Coral falling separately to the floor. 

"What the--?" Bismuth stammered. She hurried to aid her friend, then paused mid-step as if she couldn't decide which Pearl was the real one. Sea Glass sat up first, rubbing her head, then reached out her arm and helped her counterpart to her feet. The three Gems stood in a triangle, each looking hopelessly lost and confused at the others. A pop of molten iron from the forge made the silence all the more awkward. 

"Okay, I know I was out a while," Bismuth finally said. "But... what the... what _happened_ to you, Pearl?" She narrowed her eyes at the two Gems before her. "I mean, are you even Pearl right now?"

Sea Glass rubbed her shoulder. "It's a bit complicated..." she began. 

"It's not," Coral disagreed. "Homeworld has a machine that can split Gems in two. Pearl got stuck in it, and now you have... well, us." She held her hand between the two of them. 

Sea Glass pouted a bit, apparently feeling that Coral had oversimplified things, but she nevertheless nodded in agreement. "We're not exactly stable," she clarified. "Our half-gems don't have the power needed to hold our physical forms indefinitely. Hence why we stay fused most of the time." 

Again, the forge became silent except for the growling sounds of liquid metal shifting around. Coral had not thought it at all hot when they'd entered, but now the heat felt suffocating to her.

"Well, hey," Bismuth said, cracking a smile once again (although it seemed a bit forced this time), "that's... that different. I mean, I can't complain, right? Now I've _two_ Pearls to re-meet." She reached out and picked up Sea Glass, tossing her in the air and catching her. Sea Glass giggled and pointed her toes in a ballerina-like pose. Coral felt her tension ease at the sight. All that worrying that Bismuth would somehow reject them in these new forms suddenly felt so stupid. Friends stayed friends no matter what happened. They--

"So, tell me, who do _you_ belong to?" Bismuth joked. 

Coral cringed, but before she could say anything, Sea Glass got caught up in the moment and happily yelled out, "Steven!"

Bismuth gasped. Coral slapped herself in the forehead. Bismuth slowly lowered Sea Glass to floor, as if setting down something explosive, staring at the half-Gem with wide, shocked eyes. Sea Glass's cheeks flared a bright blue as she desperately tried to correct herself. "I-I... I mean nobody. I belong to nobody." 

"That's not what you said first," Bismuth said through gritted teeth. 

"I-I... I..." Sea Glass began to stutter. Coral almost grabbed her hand and refused with her right then. She wanted to help, wanted to help steer Sea Glass's thoughts away from her old habits. But what good would that do now? It wasn't as if Bismuth could un-hear Sea Glass's answer. 

With everyone staring at her, no doubt pressing on her the idea that she'd done something horribly wrong, Sea Glass's basic instincts took over. She leaned into a bow, and the apologies couldn't spill out of her mouth fast enough. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean that! I--"

"And now you're _bowing_ to me?" Bismuth said, making no attempt to hide her fury any more. "Did Homeworld erase everything Rose taught you?" 

"It's not like that!" Coral cut in. She took Sea Glass by the hand, but didn't fuse with her. Not yet. Bismuth wanted to know what the two of them were like? This was as good a time for their friend to get a lesson as any. "I mean, it's true that Sea Glass acts more like the Pearl before the Rebellion. But she's also incredibly knowledgable, and--"

"Wait a minute." Bismuth held up hand. "You're saying that you... I'm sorry, give me your name?"

"Coral." 

"Right. You're saying that you, Coral, don't feel like a Homeworld Pearl at all?"

Coral shook her head, but Bismuth still didn't seem to quite believe her. "I mean, no offense," she went on, "but the Pearl I knew still had some of that Homeworld junk in her head, always felt like she needed another Gem to lead her, felt like she could never measure up to us other Gems because Pearls weren't made for it. But you..." Now she actually reached forward and cupped Coral's face in her large hands. "You don't feel any of that?"

"No, that's definitely not a problem for me," Coral said with a weak laugh. _But I've got plenty of other problems to make up for it. I get overconfident, I act too quickly, I hold grudges, I--_

"Wow, I can't believe this!" Bismuth exclaimed, whacking Coral's shoulder so hard she almost stumbled over. "Homeworld actually did something good!" 

Coral blinked a few times and stared at Bismuth, trying to figure out if she'd misheard somehow. Sea Glass took a step forward. "Um, something good?" she asked. 

"Well, yeah!" Bismuth said, speaking her words to Coral, even though Sea Glass had posed the question. "All this time you were struggling to believe you were worth something, that a Pearl could do whatever she wanted... all those doubts are just gone with you! Don't you feel amazing?"

Coral felt herself blush just a bit. For a moment, she thought about how it felt to be outside of the fusion with Sea Glass, the pure freedom of knowing, and not just telling herself, that she could do anything. Be anything. "Well, it is... rather nice," she admitted. Then the happiness faded. "But, like Sea Glass said, these bodies don't last long outside of a fusion. We need to refuse quickly or one of us is probably going to start flickering." She held out her hand towards Sea Glass, but Bismuth blocked it. 

"Whoa, whoa, before you go and take drastic measures, let's see if there's something I can do to fix this little issue of yours." She walked over to the jars of silvery powder that lines the walls of her forge. With careful consideration, she took small handfuls from each and shoved her bulging fist into the molten liquid. Her one hand morphed into a hammer, and Bismuth was in her element. The clang of metal echoed around the room, and Coral shielded her eyes from the flying sparks. Then, within a few minutes, Bismuth plunged her creation into a vat of water, sending pillars of steam everywhere. When the steam finally cleared, she held out what appeared to be a pair of shimmering white bracers. She held one of them out to Coral. 

"Try it on," she said gleefully. Coral took the bracer. It was small, and it hugged her slender wrist quite nicely. One it was fitted in place, she felt a sudden wave of energy filling her body. Not that she had felt tired before, but rather like there was a whole level of alertness she'd been missing all this time. She assumed it was a similar to the sensation Steven received when he downed two or three of his electric green Power Colas.

"What... is this doing, exactly?" she asked. 

Bismuth wiped her brow, grinning like a maniac. "Not a bad piece of work. I was deigning armor at one point that would give Gems an extra burst of energy when they attacked. But I can apply that same principal to give your Gem enough of a boost to keep your form." She gave Coral a wink. "It's just a quick prototype, of course, but give me a few hours here, and I can make a much better version. Something that could probably keep you holding that form for a century or two before the energy ran dry." She rubbed her chin and gave Coral another look-over, noting her single arm. "A guess a limb enhancer wouldn't be bad for you, either. I can probably make the parts for it, though you'd be better off with a Peridot or someone putting it together." 

"I can put things together," Sea Glass said, seemingly desperate right now for someone to acknowledge that she was still in the room. 

"It's true," Coral said. "In the time you were gone, Pearl taught herself a whole host of skills. She even bested... well, _almost_ bested a Peridot in an engineering competition." 

"Did she now?" Bismuth asked. 

Sea Glass nodded enthusiastically, most likely waiting for the moment when someone would finally compliment her. But instead Bismuth told Coral, "Well, then, if Pearl could do it, I'm sure you can too! Come back tonight and I'll have everything ready for you, okay?"

"Um... okay," Coral said, nervously looking back at her counterpart. "That, uh... sounds great, Bismuth. Thanks so much."


	15. Worth Considering

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this chapter was supposed to have another whole scene to it, but I just couldn't get it to a spot I was happy with. So, my apologies for this chapter being a bit on the short side today. There's a longer one next week, I promise! Thanks for reading! -Katrina

"This is nothing short of infuriating." 

For someone who was supposedly infuriated, Nephrite's tone remained the picture of calm. Yellow Pearl had taken not to responding to her words unless they were a direct order, and it seemed to be working okay so far. But now that they had landed on Earth, things got a little more complicated. Yellow Pearl had to be exceptionally careful. She couldn't disobey a direct order to stay in the ship while her new owner wandered around this forsaken planet. So she had to make sure that said order was never issued. Keep out of Nephrite's way as much as possible and make herself useful off the ship when she could. Work farther and farther away from it until she found a good opportunity to slip away. Now seemed to be the perfect opportunity for phase two of that plan. Nephrite had a Gem scanner in hand and had been walking in consecutively larger circles around the landing site. The area appeared to be made of various rock formations with little organic life around. 

"I sense the Jasper we're looking for is close by, but I can't seem to pinpoint the exact location." She gave the device a slap on the side, her first actual display of frustration since their arrival. 

Yellow Pearl shook with anticipation. This felt so... rebellious. But ultimately, this was for the benefit of Yellow Diamond. Her Diamond needed a Pearl like her. No other Pearl could serve as well as she could. And this trip would prove it. 

"I will... leave you to your work and stay out of your way," Yellow Pearl said quietly, giving a deep bow and backing away. Nephrite gave a grunt of approval, then turned and continued walking in her circle, away from Pearl. 

_I did it... I actually did it._ She rubbed her hands, trying to calm herself down. She still wouldn't be able to wander far; she couldn't risk being summoned and not arriving in a timely manner. But at Nephrite's rate, she surely had a least a few hours before she was needed again. She would find the Jasper first. Then she would dutifully inform Yellow Diamond of the Nephrite's incompetence, so terrible in her duties that even a lowly Pearl managed to succeed in the missions before she did. Then at last, Yellow Pearl would be welcomed home. She grinned at the thought. 

This was an absolutely perfect plan that had zero percent chance of going wrong. 

\----

Sea Glass and Coral both walked slowly out to the beach where the others were training. Coral's mind felt so full -- she couldn't even tell what to think. Sea Glass, however, seemed to have plenty on her mind. 

"Will you please say something?" the indigo gem said, stopping beside a tall patch of beach grass. "I mean, you're not seriously thinking of doing this, are you? Of staying unfused?"

Coral recoiled. "N-no. Of course not," she said, drawing random shapes in the sand with her toe. "It's just... it's not an option we've had up until now. It's at least worth considering, right?"

Sea Glass looked horrified at the suggestion, then clasped her shoulder and lowered her head. "Do you... not want me around anymore?" she asked quietly. 

"What? I never said that!" Coral exclaimed. Then, realizing the others weren't that far off, she covered her mouth and kept her voice low. "I mean, come on. We never would have formed Pearl again if it hadn't been for you. Plus, there's so much you contribute. You... y-you, um..." She was stuttering. Why in Homeworld was she stuttering at a time like this? "Well, for starters, you're the one with the technical know-how in this fusion. All of that history that Pearl studied -- all of that is with you."

Sea Glass glanced up, but her expression looked far from convinced. "Yes," she allowed. "But you've got the confidence. Tell me honestly, don't you think that if you really wanted to, you could teach yourself everything I know?"

Coral gritted her teeth. The truth was, yes, she did think she could teach herself anything that Sea Glass knew. But she also knew she had a nasty tendency to be overconfident. 

"Look, the point is, we should stick together. At least for now. And if... if Bismuth gives us other options, we should decide what to do together. Okay?" She held out her hand, which Sea Glass eyed tentatively. 

"Okay," she said, stretching her own hand forward. The two touched, and in a flash of light, Pearl stood reformed once again. She took a deep breath and summoned her dagger and staff, quickly blending them into her familiar spear. Then, almost forgetting, she used the attachment Bismuth had given her to morph it again, into a trident. 

"Hey, everyone!" she called out, running into view. Garnet, Amethyst, and Steven turned to look at her. 

"Where's Bismuth?" Amethyst wanted to know. "I thought she was gonna be training with us."

"Hmm?" Pearl said. Her head felt like it was swimming; at the corner of her vision, she saw flickering images of things that weren't there -- her old home, her old Diamond...

"Pearl, you okay?" Steven asked with concern. 

She rubbed her head and nodded quickly to appease him. "Fine, Steven. I'm just fine. Bismuth is... working on some new project. She said she'd catch up with us later. But I'm here!" She gave the trident a twirl and stabbed it into the sand. Although Steven did tend to be one of the more naive members of the group, for some reason, her excuse seemed to convince everyone except him. Garnet and Amethyst went back to smacking around some rocks on the beach while Steven just stared at her, looking more worried than ever. 

"Hey, what's that?" he said, pointing. Pearl looked down to realize that she still wore one of Bismuth's bracers on her left arm, with the other tucked inside her sash. 

"Oh, this?" Pearl asked nervously, removing the bracer and holding up one in each hand so Steven could see them better. In the case of being caught, it was better to be mostly honest than to mostly lie. "This is Bismuth's new project. She's inventing a special armor that will keep Coral and Sea Glass from flickering out when they're separated." 

She smiled like it was the best invention in the world, but Steven didn't look convinced. "Bismuth... wants you to stay unfused?" 

"No, of course not!" Pearl snapped. "Why does everyone keep thinking that?" She lowered her head and whispered, "Because it's obvious that _we're_ thinking it." Then she realized she'd been talking to herself (again!), quickly jerked her head up, and faked another smile in the hopes that it made everything look normal. 

It did not. "Um, you're doing that arguing-with-you thing," Steven said. "Are you going to smash the TV?"

"No, I am _not_ going to smash the TV!" 

The volume of her voice caught Amethyst's attention. "Who's smashing stuff?" she asked hopefully. 

Garnet coughed and glared in Amethyst's direction. It was then that Pearl finally pieced everything together. She hadn't fooled Garnet at all; Garnet had been fully aware that something was off and had been trying to distract Amethyst to give Pearl some space. Maybe she could even see what Pearl looked like in the future, knew her decision before she did. No, future vision didn't work like that. But she probably knew which was the choice that ended well. That alone was kind of infuriating. Before Pearl could say anything else, however, she heard the shifting of sand behind them. She grabbed her trident and looked around. What she had thought to simply be a small hill of sand was now moving. Two eyes appeared on its side. A corrupted Gem? A Homeworld trap? Pearl took a protective stance in front of Steven. The creature seemed to be trying to communicate. It opened its mouth to make a long, mournful cry of, "Aaaaah... aaaah..."

Pearl gritted her teeth, braced for a battle.

"Ah-choo!"

Sand flew everywhere. Pearl shielded her eyes as it cleared to reveal...

"Peridot!" In an instant, fear turned to raging fury. Pearl dismissed her weapon and stomped up to the green Gem, sending up her own little cloud of sand with each forceful step. Peridot cowered and attempted to pull some of the sand back over her feet, before apparently realizing just how impractical an idea it was and instead standing up to meet Pearl. 

"H-hello." She gave a nervous wave. A wave! As if hiding under a mound of sand was a completely normal thing to do.

"What were you even... how long were... a-are you _spying_ on us?" Pearl managed to stutter out. 

Peridot blushed, her bright green cheeks practically glowing. "N-no!" she exclaimed. Then, looking back at the collapsed sand mound, she corrected herself. "I mean... yes, I was. But I had noble reasons! That... I can't tell you about just yet, but I--"

Pearl staggered backwards and clasped her head. She was seeing things again, things that weren't there... moments of fighting alongside Bismuth... no, now she was fighting _with_ Bismuth. They'd been arguing about something. But what? She couldn't remember. There had been a third person there, trying to break apart the argument, but Pearl couldn't see who it was or remember what they had said... 

_Rose? Do I not remember because that third figure was Rose?_

"A piece of advice for you," she growled. "The next time you think of doing me any kind of favor that you 'can't tell me about', drop it!" She stormed off the beach, not caring to look at anyone's reactions.


	16. Misguided

It was nighttime when Steven snuck out of the house with Lion. He felt a little bit bad about it, but at the same time, he didn't feel like going back and explaining himself to the Gems, either. There had been something off about Pearl on the beach today. Even before Peridot had revealed her hiding place (and Steven wasn't totally sure Peridot had gone back to the barn afterwards), Pearl had been acting strange. He couldn't place it, exactly, but he knew that something had happened between her and Bismuth. And since only two people could explain that conversation, Steven was determined to talk to at least one of them. With Lion's guidance, he found his way back to the forge. The door opened at his approach, and his eyes widened at what he saw inside. 

Bismuth had the furnace going at full blast and she had just finished working on something. A small piece of metal shimmered as she walked it to the nearest shelf. Steven took a tentative step closer. Stepping into the forge felt no less like an oven than it did the first time, but at least now he anticipated it. He narrowed his eyes, trying to get a better look at what the weapons master had made. 

Bismuth wiped her brow and turned back to her work, only to be started when she noticed she wasn't alone. 

"Steven!" she exclaimed. Then, gathering herself she added, "Come in, come in!" and beckoned him forward. Now that Steven could get a better view, he found that the shelf she'd been standing at contained a dozen or so of the bracers he had seen Pearl wearing earlier. 

"Did Coral explain these babies to you?" Bismuth asked. 

Steven nodded. "She's Pearl again, though," he corrected. 

"Ah, I see," Bismuth said, looking a bit disappointed at the news. "Well, there's enough extra power in these new ones to last millennia if it's needed. So she'll have all her options open." She stretched her arms over her head. "Man, it's been a long day. Guess it's about time to close up shop." She busied herself with tiding some of the clutter around the forge while Steven found himself unable to take his eyes off the stash of bracers shimmering on the shelf. 

"Hey, Bismuth?" he said nervously. 

She gave a "hmm?" of acknowledgment, but didn't turn to look at him. 

"Bismuth, there's... something that's bothering me," Steven confessed. "When Pearl came out from meeting with you, she was only wearing one of the bracers." He pointed to his left arm. "It was on Coral's arm. But I don't understand. Didn't you give them two?" 

This time, Bismuth didn't reply at all. Maybe she was too involved in her work. Maybe she just didn't hear him. "The thing is," he went on, "Sea Glass seems a lot more down on herself than Coral is. And I'm... I'm worried that if they split up... I mean, you don't think Sea Glass would... _not_ wear the bracer you gave her, right?" 

Again, she didn't answer, still managing to find a barrel of supplies to straighten or some dust to sweep up so she didn't have to look at him. Steven went from hurt to frustrated. He knew these weren't simple questions he was bringing up, but she could at least stop pretending she didn't hear them. 

At last, Bismuth seemed to run out of things to do. She came reluctantly over and knelt down so that she and Steven were at eye level. "I'll be straight with you, Steven. Keeping that half-Gem around is dangerous business. I think Coral can keep her under control plenty enough, but that's not her responsibility. She should be free to live how she wants to, not spend her life tied to someone that's so... so..." She shook her head. Whatever word she'd been searching for, though, Steven was pretty sure it hadn't been a nice one. 

"What do you mean 'keep her under control'?" he asked nervously. 

Bismuth gave him that look that Pearl and Garnet gave him a lot. The one that said, "Steven, it's so cute how clueless you are." He really didn't like that look. 

"You don't know what a war is like, I get that," Bismuth said. "You grew up in a place where any Gem you saw was trustworthy. But back then, we knew... if a Gem wasn't for us, they were against us." 

"Sea Glass is for us, though!" Steven objected.

Bismuth sadly shook her head. "She isn't, Steven. She's for Homeworld. It's their ideals she clings to, not ours." She stood up again. This time, she lowered a couple levers and the forge began to cool down. Molten iron dulled its glow, then went dark. Steven and Bismuth stood alone with barely any light between them at all. As Steven rubbed his eyes, trying to get them to adjust faster, Bismuth went on talking as if the darkness didn't bother her at all. 

"Pearl always made me nervous. Don't get me wrong, I loved her to death, but she still made me nervous."

"Why?" Steven dared to ask. 

"Well, none of us Crystal Gems wanted to go back to Homeworld. The idea made us cringe. But she... she missed it. After everything they did to her, she actually missed it."

Steven's stomach sank. He sure couldn't deny what Bismuth had said. He knew firsthand, even before she'd been split, that Pearl was desperate to see home again. She'd even risked his life for it. But... that was because she admired the beauty of the planet... or something, wasn't it? It wasn't because she actually missed Homeworld's rules or society or anything. Right? 

"So... why did you trust her if you thought she was loyal to Homeworld?" he dared to ask. The place had started to look a little less dark now. Instead of a huge, bulking silhouette, Bismuth now resembled a huge bulking, very dark grey Gem with somewhat visible eyes. 

"A few things," she said. "Rose was around, for one. And Pearl would shatter herself before she'd turn on Rose. But also because I could see parts of Pearl starting to change, coming around to Rose's way of thinking. Y'know, every day Rose would ask her, 'who do you belong to?' Took ages to get her to stop answering 'you' or 'Pink Diamond' or whatever. Ages more before she started believing it." She felt around on the shelves and pulled down what looked like a cloth sack. She then walked over to the pile of bracers and began methodically picking up each one, feeling it over, and then placing it inside the sack. 

"Separating yourself from what Homeworld wants you to be... it's no easy _bismuth_ , if you get my meaning."

Steven tried to laugh at the pun, but it sounded more like a confused whimper. 

Bismuth continued, "It came pretty easy to me, because I stuck to what I was good at. I built different things, but I never stopped being a builder. Pearl was trying to go from being a servant to a knight. No wonder she struggled." The bag now full, she handed it over to Steven, who gripped it tightly in his hands. He could hear the metal pieces sliding over each other inside, some of them still with a touch of warmth to them.

"But this," Bismuth said with awe in her voice, "this split that Homeworld's machines did to her? It's like they made a shortcut for that whole process. Coral is Pearl's real self, Steven. Sea Glass is everything she's been spending her whole life trying to get rid of." Her face looked suddenly sad, like Steven had hurt her feelings in some awful way. "Why would you try to imprison her again?"

Her words were so strong and confident, Steven almost blurted out an apology. But then something us flared up inside him. Something angry. 

"No!" he said, stomping his foot and dropping the sack at his side. "You're wrong! _Pearl_ is Pearl's true self. When something bad happens to you, it changes you. It affects how you see things. How you treat other people. Things aren't as separate as you think they are!" 

Bismuth seemed at a temporary loss for words, and Steven took full advantage of the opening. 

"Pearl always has time for me. She always helps me take care of things. And she always works to better herself. I think... the time she spent on Homeworld has a lot to do with that. I'm not saying it was good that it happened, but... but how Pearl dealt with it showed who she is on the inside. You can't act like that part of her doesn't matter!"

Bismuth's expression hardened. "Ask Coral if she would ever want to go back to Homeworld, Steven. I'll bet she gives you a way different answer than Sea Glass would."

"I don't care what she would answer," Steven said, turning away. "Sea Glass is my friend, and she'd never turn on me. I don't want to talk about it anymore." He wanted to stomp out of the forge. Lion was waiting for him; it would be easy to run off right now. But that wouldn't solve the underlying problem. Steven sighed and sat down on the floor, hugging his legs. He heard the shuffling of Bismuth's feet as she came and sat next to him. She didn't try to argue anymore, but he could feel the distance between them just the same. 

"Look, I won't take back what I said about Sea Glass being dangerous," she said after a long silence, "but if you think you can keep everyone safe, then... I trust you. After all, you're Rose's... Rose's..." She seemed at a lost for the right word. 

"Son," Steven offered. 

"Right." Bismuth gave a smile. It was the kind of warm, friendly smile that Steven could see coming from his mother. In that moment, even though he was still kind of angry with her, even though they still fiercely disagreed, Steven felt a kind of bond with Bismuth, like they'd be able to work things out. Maybe that was what it was like between his mom and Bismuth all those years ago, too. 

"Hey, I'm sorry," Bismuth said. "All that stuff... Rose and I argued about Pearl a lot back in the day. I guess talking to you brought it all back to me. But I've gotta remember you two aren't the same person." She patted Steven gently on the back, and he smiled up at her. "You know, it's kind of exciting," she went on. "You don't have to be like Rose Quartz. You can be someone even better."

"Even better?" Steven questioned. "Even better how?" 

This seemed to get Bismuth excited, and she stood up again. "Well, for one thing, I could get you a much better weapon."

\----

Everything happened so quickly after that. Steven wasn't even sure how it had started. One minute, Bismuth was showing him an old weapon she had been working on... something insanely powerful, but something also insanely cruel. The next minute, she was yelling at him. Saying he was his mother. And that he'd let the Crystal Gems die because he'd been too cowardly to use all his resources. 

Steven had tried to argue with her, to explain how the Breaking Point was just as terrible as Homeworld's fission machine. He tried to voice how he couldn't possibly use it, even to defend his friends. Then Bismuth had snapped. And attacked. Steven had never felt so scared. It wasn't only that no one had his back in the fight -- it was worse than that. The person he was facing off against was supposed to be a friend. 

Some time later, Steven warped back home, battered and bruised as he clasped the bag of bracers Bismuth had given him. Garnet noticed his arrival first, but once they saw his injuries, all three of the Crystal Gems hurried to his side. 

"What happened, Steven?" Pearl cried with concern. 

"You okay, little man?" asked Amethyst. 

"Fine, I'm fine," Steven said. He tried to explain what had happened, but just then, he heard a loud "Ow!", followed by the clanging of metal. From the top cabinet in the kitchen, Peridot tumbled out, pots and pans spilling out after her. She smacked the stovetop first, then rolled off and onto the floor. 

"What the-- why are you even _in_ there?" Pearl snapped. "We told you to leave!"

Ignoring Pearl, Peridot jumped up and hurried to Steven's side. She grasped his hand, examining both the top and palm, then narrowing her eyes at each of his fingers. "Injuries seem minimal," she said. Next, she grabbed his chin and stared into his eyes. "No serious trauma," she added on, then smiled. "Excellent. I am glad to see that your non-Gem half is still very much intact. Now, provide a summation of the events leading up to this moment. Myself and your fellow Crystal Gems will listen with attention and then proceed to coddle you accordingly."

Pearl was still seething about Peridot being in the cabinet at all, but a look from Garnet seemed to calm her down. Steven rubbed the back of his head. This explanation wasn't going to be easy. "Well, I got into a bit of a disagreement with Bismuth..." he began. 

Peridot nodded vigorously. "Ah, let me guess. The two of you engaged in an epic battle. She swung. You used your shield. She swung again, harder than last time, shattering your shield to pieces. Unable to summon it again in your haste and panic, you attempted to avoid her blows. But each time she got closer and closer until you finally had no choice but to pull out your sword and impale her through the chest!" 

Steven stared blankly at Peridot for a long moment. "Um, no, nothing like that," he said. The group looked skeptically down at his injuries. "Okay, maybe... something like that. We did get in a fight, but..." He gripped the bag tighter, which burned his skin a bit where he still had some open scrapes. "...but, in the end, she just left. She said some stuff about how she couldn't stay around us if we were going to be this..." he rubbed his sore head, "I think her word was 'misguided.'"

Peridot's face fell. "Oh, that was it?" she asked. "For some reason, I thought it was going to be more serious than that." 

"All right, everyone, back up and give Steven his space," Garnet said, shooing the others away. As Steven watched the group disperse (which involved Pearl more or less kicking Peridot out the front door), he gripped his sack and tried to call out after them. 

"Wait, I have--"

"Tomorrow," Garnet interrupted. "The best time to show them to Pearl is tomorrow."

"Oh," Steven held the bag closer, "All right, then. Tomorrow. I guess I am a bit tired." He gave a large yawn and allowed Garnet to escort him up to his room. When they reached the door, Steven paused as he reached for the knob. 

"Hey, Garnet?" he asked. "Bismuth... said some stuff about Pearl before she left. She said that--"

But Garnet only put a finger to her lips and said, "Shh. We'll talk about that tomorrow, too."


	17. Encounter

Following Peridot's minor incident in the kitchen, Pearl banned her from the premises starting the previous day and going forward until the end of time. Peridot was 97% sure Pearl was not being metaphorical. And while watching Camp Pining Hearts marathons with Lapis did provide some distraction, Peridot found herself obsessing over the first (and so far) only idea she'd had to make things right. She needed the records off a Homeworld ship. A decent, functioning one. The rudimentary computer system she'd constructed in the barn was set to alert her whenever it sensed anything in the area. Of course, if it sensed anything in the area, they were probably under attack. Why did Earth's safety and her right standing with the Crystal Gems have to be in such utter conflict?

At least Steven and Amethyst came to visit her once in a while. In fact, they were visiting right now. Peridot stood to the side while Lapis did most of the talking. The blue Gem showed off the various meep morps she had made, all of them lined up like exhibits along the barn wall. When she had finished explaining her last one, she motioned to Peridot. 

Peridot walked over to the only meep morp she'd been able to create lately.

"This is a puddle," she said. "It represents the sadness I feel at the rejection thrust upon me. The water constantly ascending into your atmosphere (thus forcing me to re-make this meep morp on a regular basis) represents the futility of my efforts to make amends." 

"Wow... that's deep," Steven said, his eyes wide. 

Amethyst crossed her arms and huffed. "Oh, please. It's... what, an inch of water? That's shallow." She stomped off to the corner of the barn and began kicking around Peridot's can collection. Granted, it probably looked like a pile of trash, but Peridot still pouted over its rough treatment. 

"Don't be too upset with her," Steven pleaded. "She's been kind of down after she found out she's supposed to be just like Jasper."

"Eh?"

Steven look a little hesitant to explain, but did so anyway. "Jasper took her down in a fight and now she's obsessed with getting a rematch," he said. "To prove she's good enough." 

"Hmm..." Peridot rubbed her chin. Oddly enough, the fact that Amethyst was feeling just as down as she was made Peridot feel a bit better herself. Did that indicate apathy? Apathy was probably bad. 

"Peridot, your thingy is beeping," Lapis said. She pointed to another corner of the barn (the one opposite the corner containing the now-disorganized can collection). Sure enough, Peridot's tablet was not only beeping, but flashing too. Peridot tripped over her feet running to it and snatched it up in her eager hands. The screen showed everything she had hoped. She had a hit. A legitimate hit. There was a Homeworld ship nearby this very area. A small but fairly modern one, based on her readings. Most likely the Rubies coming back after they finally realized that Jasper was not, in fact, on Neptune. Well, those clods had been easily defeated before. Surely with a little assistance, Peridot could defeat them again. Assistance was the key. As impressive as her abilities to bend metal to her will could be, she still needed some backup. She looked over the map and determined that the ship had landed... well, not next to, but certainly within walking distance of the Beta Kindergarten. Which meant Peridot had the perfect idea for how to get some backup to come with her. 

She silenced the tablet and walked back over to Amethyst, grinning widely. "Oh Amethyst, you're being ridiculous," she said with a laugh. "Why are you even comparing yourself to Jasper? You two are completely different Quartzes." She laughed again, louder this time, as no one had laughed along with her the first time. "Sure, you're both from Earth, but your Kindgartens are radically different."

Amethyst took interest immediatetly. "We're both... from Earth?" she asked. 

"Well, sure! You're from the Prime Kindergarten in Facet Five. Jasper's from the Beta Kindergarten in Facet Nine! Have you _seen_ that place?"

"No," Amethyst snapped. 

Right. Of course she hadn't. Peridot swallowed. "Oh. Well... maybe you should. So you can see how the other half was made. Badly!" She looked around at the others. Was she talking too loud? It felt like she was talking too loud. "No, seriously, let's go. You'll get a kick out of this." She started to lead the group out of the barn, then stopped. Not divulging the full truth had ended badly for her before. But she couldn't have Pearl or Garnet joining them and messing up her plan, either. Maybe she could tell the truth, but just tell it really quickly and pretend like it wasn't important? Yes, that was the best approach. 

"So, nice day out here," she said as she hurried the group along. "Bright sun, fresh air, um... straight trees." She spit out her next sentence as fast as she could before returning to normal speed, "Oh, and-just-to-warn-the-two-of-you,-there-may-or-may-not-be-a-Homeworld-ship-in-the-area. Did I mention those trees? I mean, they're really straight!"

"Wait, what?" Steven asked. 

"The trees, Steven. I'm taking about the trees. You really should pay more attention." 

"No, you said something about Homeworld!" Steven insisted. "You think there's a ship nearby?!" 

"A small craft, if it exists at all," Peridot said, waving off his concerns and trying to hurry the group along their route. Why did grass have to be so thick here? "That was what my tablet was beeping about back in the barn. But don't get all upset about it. It's nothing we can't handle." 

"Just the three of us?" Steven asked. "We need to get back and warn Garnet and Pearl!"

"It's Garnet," Amethyst muttered, stomping out footprints in the grass as she walked. "Odds are, she future-saw it already, anyway. Let's go check this place out, and then we'll go straight home, okay?" 

Steven did not look like this idea pleased him at all, but since Amethyst and Peridot had picked up their pace and would soon leave him behind, he lowered his head and ran off after them.

\----

Yellow Pearl could hardly believe her good luck. She had done it. She had actually tracked down the Jasper all on her own. Well, not entirely on her own. First, she had wandered aimlessly until she had found something that looked familiar -- a large wall of rock with dozens upon dozens of exit holes marking its surface. Clearly, this place had been a Kindergarten at some point. She was no certified Kindgartener, of course, so the exact location was unknown to her, but most of the holes didn't look particularly elegant. Then, after searching the place for a good hour, she'd heard a voice call out, "You take orders from me now!" 

The voice had sounded not that dissimilar from Nephrite's, making Yellow Pearl think she'd been caught. Then she had realized that not only was the voice different, it hadn't even been speaking to her. She had managed to climb to the top of a rocky ledge and inch along its side until she got a good look at the speaker -- a huge orange Gem. A Jasper. _The_ Jasper they were looking for! (Really, what other Jaspers were on this primitive planet?) The Quartz soldier had constructed cages out the old exit holes. And it seemed, she was talking to something inside one of those cages. 

"You used to be a Quartz too, didn't you? What happened to you?" 

A growl erupted from inside the cage, and Yellow Pearl glimpsed a blotchy pink and teal claw lashing out at Jasper. _A corrupted Gem?_

She shivered at the sound. Yes, she knew _about_ corrupted Gems, but such things were never a part of her world with Yellow Diamond. This creature was so far gone, it didn't even realize how despicable it had become. Surely if it had any mind left to it, it would have thrown itself onto the nearest spiky surface and shattered its gem, rather than continuing to live in its current state. 

The Jasper, judging from her disgusted tone, felt the same. "Disgraceful," she muttered. "I can't believe I've resorted to recruiting you freaks!"

_Recruiting?_ Yellow Pearl thought. _Recruiting for what?_ Thankfully, the Jasper continued speaking her thoughts aloud, even though the corrupted Gem was obviously beyond understanding her. 

"You're almost as bad as that Crystal runt. Just look at you. This planet ruins everything! Well, except for me."

_Crystal... runt?_ Clearly, it was a nickname of some kind. But for who? Or what? Yellow Pearl quickly ran over all the data in her mind for a possible match. She found only one. The shock nearly made gasp, and she threw her hand over her mouth to keep herself silent. Surely, _surely_ Jasper couldn't be referring to the Crystal Gems? Those traitors were all shattered thousands of years ago. If they were here... 

She gripped the ledge and leaned in closer. If Jasper was preparing for a fight with a Crystal Gem, both could be poofed in the battle, couldn't they? That would give Yellow Pearl a chance to capture Jasper. She breathed deeply and resigned herself to waiting. So far, it was the best plan she had. 

\----

Peridot's plan went a little better than she planned for it to. They had found Jasper's exit hole. Unfortunately, they had also found Jasper. It was at the moment of seeing the massive orange Gem that Peridot had quickly realized her error. Coming out here with just the three of them had, in brief summary, been a terrible idea. 

"We should go back to Temple and grab reinforcements," she whispered, fairly sure her eternal ban didn't apply in this instance. 

"Yeah, that's a good idea," Steven had agreed. He turned to where Amethyst should have been standing. "Amethyst? Where did she go?"

Peridot didn't need to ask such a stupid question. She knew exactly where Amethyst had gone. Now the only thing Peridot and Steven could do was standby while the two Quartzes battled each other. It wasn't a pretty sight. No matter how many times Amethyst threw her full strength into a vicious attack, Jasper merely shrugged it off. It was like she was incapable of getting hurt. Peridot tried her best to pull down some metal from the injector wreckage to aid in the fight, but massive machinery was too much for her. Finally, when it seemed Amethyst was all but completely defeated, Steven ran up to her. A stupid move in just about any case. But Steven had a knack for pulling off the unexpected. 

Once the strange new fusion called Smoke Quartz made an appearance, Jasper was quickly taken down. She attempted a fusion of her own, with a corrupted Quartz of all Gems, only for the corruption to spread to her own body. Peridot watched in horror as the once proud soldier spat out all the scorn she could before the madness swallowed her mind. Steven took the brunt of her wrath. Steven, she said, whose previous form had shattered Jasper's Diamond. 

"Y-yellow Diamond?" Steven asked in confusion. 

"My Diamond!" Jasper gasped. "Your Diamond. _Pink_ Diamond!" 

At this, the corruption finally won over. Jasper became nothing but a mindless monster, claws stretching out, desperately still searching for someone, anyone, to fuse with and win a battle she'd already lost. Peridot struggled one more time to pull a shard of metal loose. Then, at that moment, she heard a scream. A high-pitched, slightly nasally, scream. A yellow figure toppled off the cliffside above Jasper, landing first on her head, then rolling onto the ground in front of her. 

Peridot couldn't believe what she was seeing. It was a Pearl. And not just any Pearl. _Yellow Diamond'_ s Pearl.

"What the?" she gasped. "How are you even--"

She didn't get to finish her sentence. The corrupted Jasper roared at the newcomer, reaching desperately towards her. Sharp claws snagged on the Pearl's delicate translucent sleeves and yanked her backwards. The Pearl screamed even louder, calling for her Diamond to rescue her, even as Jasper's arm began to glow. 

"She's trying to fuse again!" Steven called. "We have to stop it!" 

Peridot agreed, of course. But it seemed the fusion had already begun.


	18. Corruption

Peridot had to give Steven credit for one thing: he didn't give up, even on an enemy. The Pearl's sleeves and upper back glowed as she was pulled into the fusion, but Steven charged forward with neither regard for own safety, nor common sense. 

"You let her go!" he yelled, throwing his shield at the corrupted Jasper's glowing arm. The moment the shield hit, Jasper cried out in pain and released her grip, breaking the fusion and sending the Pearl tumbling away. At that moment, Peridot was finally able to get a shard of metal free and pierced Jasper through the chest. The corrupted Gem was poofed instantly, and Amethyst hurried in to bubble her. A job well done, to be sure. But it did nothing to solve the problem of their unexpected intruder. 

Yellow Pearl clutched her chest, crying out in pain as her body convulsed on the ground. Peridot saw to her horror that in the same way Jasper had contracted corruption from the Quartz monster, the same fate seemed to be overtaking Yellow Pearl. It started with blotches of mismatched colors on her shoulder blades. Then, her delicate translucent sleeves began to morph, extending into what appeared to be clawed, bird-like wings. From there, orange scales began to crawl down her shoulders and arms. After screaming incoherently for her Diamond brought her zero success, her wide terrified eyes found Steven's. 

"Help me! Please!" she begged in a raspy voice. 

Steven didn't hesitate. He licked his hands once again and ran over to her, slamming his wet palms onto her chest, where her gem lay. At first, it seemed to have no effect. The scales continued to manifest on her upper arms, and some started to appear on her legs as well. She moaned and yanked away from Steven. With guttural, animalistic screeches, she began to crawl along the ground. Peridot felt sick to her stomach. 

_This is too awful,_ she thought. _Even for Homeworld. How could they invent this disease at all? How could they put other Gems through this?_

Then, all at once, the corruption ceased. No new growth appeared, and the Pearl froze in her tracks. She shook her head and sat up as if being jostled out of a trance.

Peridot expected to see some of her physical transformation reverse itself as well, but it seemed that Steven's powers did not extend that far. The yellow Pearl got shakily to her feet and looked at her back, eyes wide with horror. She stretched a clawed wing tentatively out, as if testing to make sure the awful monstrosity was actually part of her body. 

"No," she whispered. "No, no, no, no. This can't happen to me." She stood and turned on Steven, her face no longer filled with fear, but rage. "You told that Jasper you could heal her! I heard you say it!" 

"I-I'm sorry," Steven said, backing up and holding up his hands in defense. "My healing powers don't work the same every time. I don't think I can reverse what already happened. But it seems like your mind is still mostly okay. And, um, hey... you've got wings. That's pretty cool, right?" 

The Pearl cried out in anguish. Peridot couldn't blame her too much -- the wings were hardly elegant; they looked more like something off a feathered dinosaur. But Steven had done his best, and when it came to whose feelings mattered more, Peridot would side with Steven any day of the week. 

"Oh, come on, quit crying," she said. "It's not all that bad." 

The yellow Pearl turned her gaze to Peridot and recoiled. "Y-you!" she gasped, pointing. "I-I know you! You're the Peridot that insulted Yellow Diamond!" 

She hugged herself tightly, still staring in the general direction of the Gems, but no longer seeming to see them. "I'm ruined," she whispered. "I've been corrupted. I've conversed with the enemy."

"I think I stopped the corruption," Steven said, trying to make his voice as soothing as possible. "And, I mean, I don't think it's that bad that you talked to us. I mean, mostly we were talking to you, so that's not really your fault..."

She didn't react. "I'm going to be shattered. I _should_ be shattered!" Her body shook with panic as she grasped the sides of her head. "I should... I should..." Her eyes rolled back and she collapsed to the ground. Steven exchanged confused and concerned looks with Peridot and Amethyst, then walked up to the Pearl's unconscious form. Experimentally, he poked her in the arm. No reaction. 

"She... passed out," he observed, then looked back up at his friends. "Gems can pass out?"

Amethyst gave a shrug. "Eh, they can pass out the same way I can sleep. You don't _need_ to do it, but you can if you want to. " She leaned down and scooped the Pearl up in her arms. "Figures. Of all Gems that would willingly faint, it'd be a Pearl."

She turned to walk out of the kindergarten, and a look of panic crossed Peridot's face. "Um, what are you doing? This is the Pearl belonging to _Yellow Diamond._ If there is any Gem that we should put on our probably-not-our-friends list, aside from Yellow Diamond herself, it's her!"

Steven stared blankly at Peridot for a moment. "Wait, there's a list like that?"

"I have all sorts of creatures on the probably-not-our-friends list," Peridot said proudly. Amethyst had already started walking, and she had to scamper to keep up. "Item one, squirrels. Item two, humans who like squirrels. Item three, licorice-flavored jelly beans... hey, you're still holding her!"

"Well, we can't just leave her out here," Steven said, as if they were talking about Garnet or Lapis, or someone else they actually knew and cared about and not someone who would have been very happy to call the full wrath of Homeworld down on them. "She's partially corrupted and really scared."

"She _should_ be scared," Peridot said. "She doesn't have a future anymore. Pearls are supposed to be pretty and perfect and she's neither right now. She has no purpose." 

"Hey!" Amethyst snapped, locking Peridot with a warning stare. 

"I'm not saying anything she wouldn't say herself!" Peridot countered. "Whenever she wakes up, she's just going to freak out again and probably do something desperate and nonsensical."

"Oh, what, like lock herself in the bathroom?" Amethyst said. "Yeah, we handled that once before. Think we'll be okay." 

Peridot grunted, but didn't answer. The truth was, the Pearl reminded her of herself more than she cared to let on. She knew what it was like to feel like she'd lost everything. Of course, she was a Peridot. Peridots were made to be adaptable. Pearls... well, weren't. 

But, if Amethyst and Steven and the others wanted to insist on doing the impossible, that was their business, not hers. Either way, now that the Pearl had been captured, Peridot had to decide if that meant the Homeworld ship she'd pinpointed was now empty and safe for her to enter. It wasn't Yellow Pearl's ship -- possessions didn't own other possessions. So, had the Pearl stolen it? Possibly. She did seem to have a bit more spunk to her, and Yellow Diamond certainly wasn't with her. (The world would have been torn up by now if she had been.) Maybe she'd been exploring the ship and it had accidentally taken off with her inside? 

However it had come to be, the ship was more than likely empty. Which meant as soon as they got this stupid passed-out Gem back to the barn, Peridot could come back here and get her data. 

"Hey, do the same types of Gems look the same when they get corrupted?" Steven suddenly asked as they neared the last hill before the barn. 

"How would I know?" Peridot said.

Steven looked at the ground. She suddenly realized he hadn't said a word for almost the whole walk back here, which was really unusual for Steven. Seeing one Gem corrupted and another one nearly corrupted right in front of him... maybe it had hurt him more than Peridot had first thought. 

"It's just... I keep seeing it in my head over and over," he said, dragging his feet until he was barely walking at all. "I keep imagining _our_ Pearl... or Amethyst looking like that, and... and..." He winced and stopped walking completely, tears at the corners of his eyes. "I don't ever want to see anything like that happen to them." 

"Hey, chill, nothing's wrong with me. Or anybody," Amethyst said. "Okay, Pearl's a little messed up in the head right now, but she's doing way better." She laid a hand on Steven's shoulder. "Homeworld could throw all kinds of stuff at us. But that's why we're here for each other, right?" 

Steven looked up and smiled at her. "R-right. I'm sorry." He picked up the pace again, almost to the crest of the hill. "So, what do we do when we get back to the barn?" 

"Ugh, I don't wanna do anything for like a month," Amethyst groaned. At last, the barn came into view. Only trouble was, there seemed to be something there that wasn't before. Specifically, there was a small red spaceship parked in front of it. And Lapis was holding five bubbles of water with some kind of figures inside. 

"Are those..." Steven asked, narrowing his eyes. He hardly needed to finish his sentence. "The Rubies are back?" he moaned. "I thought we were done with these guys!" He shook his head in a well-I-guess-it-can't-be-helped sort of way and started to head down the hill. 

"I'll go find out what's going on," he said. "You two... uh, hold on a second." And with that, he scampered off and started conversing with Lapis. He pointed to each of the Rubies, and Lapis let them down one at a time on Steven's suggestions. 

"So, um... what do we do about this?" Peridot pointed to the fainted Yellow Pearl still in Amethyst's arms. 

"Right now?" Amethyst asked. "Probably a bad time to explain this. I'll take her in the back of the barn and come out the front." 

"Wow, Amethyst, that's so strategic of you," Peridot said, then frowned. "Wait, why didn't I think of that?" 

"Ugh, come on," Amethyst said, motioning with her head for Peridot to follow. The two of them successfully scurried into the back of the barn while the rest of the Crystal Gems continued to question the Rubies. Lapis might have stolen a glance in their direction, Peridot noted as they snuck into the door, but she didn't say anything. Peridot smiled. Lapis was never much of a conversationalist, but at a time like this, a little discernment was precisely what they needed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story won't be deviating from the canon in Back to the Moon or Bubbled, so rather than focus on those events, the next chapter will center on what Lapis, Peridot, and Yellow Pearl do in the Crystal Gems' absence. Also, the next chapter will be posted in two weeks, rather than one, as I've got a lot on my plate right now and can't keep up with the once-a-week schedule like before. If I have the next chapter ready any earlier, I'll post it on my blog -- fanfiction.katrinasforest.com. Also, if anyone is interested, I'm publishing a collection of my original short stories in a few weeks, and I'm happy to give away a PDF copy to anyone who wants one. Thanks so much for reading!


	19. Yellow Pearl's Bargain

"So, you guys took a prisoner," Lapis said. She tilted her head at Yellow Pearl, who was still unconscious, but was now unconscious on top of a pile of blankets in front of the meep morp display. Lapis narrowed her eyes a bit and her lips turned up in an only-slightly-devious smile. "Cool."

"For the last time, she is _not_ a prisoner," Peridot insisted, making sure her tablet was in proper working order before heading out to the ship. "When she wakes up, she is free to do whatever she will. Unless 'what she will' involves threatening us, in which case, encase her in a water bubble until I get back." 

"You mean imprison her?" Lapis clarified. 

"Yes. Exactly. Glad to see our thoughts so in sync." 

Lapis nodded. Then she took a few steps around the Pearl and shivered a bit when she got a better look at her wings. "She started becoming corrupted?" 

Peridot waved off the concern. "Steven seems to have taken care of it." As she said it, however, one of the Pearl's scaly wings flickered. Her eyes flew open and her head jolted jolted up. Lapis and Peridot both braced themselves for an attack. (Well, Lapis braced herself. Peridot helpfully ran behind Lapis to back her up.)

"Where am I?" Yellow Pearl snapped. "Who are you?" She looked desperately around the room. It occurred to Peridot that the Pearl had been in such a frenzy during her corruption, she might not even remember talking with Peridot at all. Now she was in a barn with at least one Gem she'd never met before. Peridot had every reason to be at least somewhat sympathetic to her situation. Then again...

"Oh, it's you." Yellow Pearl peered behind Lapis with an air of disgust to her voice. "If you're thinking of holding me for ransom, you're out of luck. I'm useless." She attempted to stand all the way, but her wings shuddered again, throwing her off-balance. She braced herself against the toilet bowl that composed Peridot's latest meep morp, and spread her wings wide. Peridot thought for a moment she might try to take off, but instead, she held them open until they stopped quivering and then carefully folded them back down before pulling herself to her feet. She stood with her back to Lapis and Peridot, taking slow, deep breaths (probably trying not to pass out again) before turning to face them. 

"Case in point," she said bitterly. 

Peridot didn't have time to deal with this. "I have no intention of holding you for ransom," she said as she tucked the tablet proudly under her arm. "I am off to retrieve some information from your ship. If you'd like to say something useful, like perhaps how inhabited that ship is right now, feel free to do so. It might save you some pain later." She added on that last bit as an afterthought, but figured it couldn't hurt. 

"She's lying," Lapis said in a near-monotone. "She wouldn't hurt you. She's actually terrified of you." 

"I am not!" Peridot snapped back, which only caused Lapis to generate the devious smile again.

Yellow Pearl stared unblinking between the two of them for a few moments as if she couldn't decide whether to find the situation terrifying or hilarious. 

"I'm afraid I'm still confused," she said. "I didn't think there were any other Gems on this planet right now aside from my owner and her targets. Certainly not a Lapis Lazuli or a Peridot. So who exactly are you and how did you come to be here?" 

_Her owner and her targets?_ So the Yellow Pearl hadn't come to Earth alone then. That did make Peridot's task a bit riskier, but certainly not impossible. She just had to figure out the right way to get more information out their not-a-prisoner. Perhaps a show of force was the best approach? Peridot straightened, trying to make herself look as tall as she could with her limb enhancers still on permanent hiatus. 

"Well, if you want to know, you happen to be in the custody of the great and lovable Peridot, genius beyond measure and newest member of the Crystal Gems." 

Yellow Pearl did not look impressed. "Wait, you're a Crystal Gem?" she asked. 

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I am." Peridot crossed her arms and flashed a rebellious smile. She had to say, confessing her status on this team had been nerve-wracking when she first told Jasper. But after getting it out once, she rather liked the feeling it gave her. Yes, she was a Gem to be reckoned with. A force of danger. A name that drove terror into the hearts of Homeworld--

Yellow Pearl burst out laughing. "Please! You think I was made yesterday? The Crystal Gems haven't existed for centuries! We wiped them all out."

Peridot's smile faded. She was being mocked. By a Pearl. This felt less rebellious and more humiliating. "In fact, you did not wipe us all out," she said. "On account of, you know, some of us are still here." 

Yellow Pearl held up a scolding finger. "I may be incapable of engineering, but I am most capable of storing information. When the Crystal Gems _did_ exist, there were absolutely no records of a Peridot anywhere among their ranks."

Peridot gritted her teeth. If she had felt sorry for this Pearl at any point in their conversation, all of that sympathy had vanished. "Oh, yeah?" she snapped. "How about records of an Amethyst? Or a Ruby and Sapphire fusion? Or a Pearl? Or-- Oh. Opps." Peridot winced. She had just spilled critical information to an enemy. Her emotions would be the death of her one day. Or of her friends. Or possibly all of them. 

"That wasn't very smart," Lapis observed. 

"I am aware," Peridot agreed, making a poor attempt to massage her forehead with her visor in the way. 

But instead of celebrating her victory, the Pearl merely stared at Peridot as if viewing a new species. "Wait. Wait. You're telling me... the Crystal Gem Pearl. _The_ renegade Crystal Gem Pearl... she still exists?"

"Um, no...?" Peridot said. If she could keep her friends safe despite her screw-up, she wouldn't mind doing so. But she didn't see how even a Pearl could be that stupid. "I mean, maybe? I mean--"

"You're serious," Yellow Pearl said, eyes wide. "You're actually serious. Where is she? Can I see her?" 

"No." 

To Peridot's surprise, the refusal came from Lapis. The blue Gem tightened her fists, a dangerous look in her eyes. It might have been true that she wasn't fond of all the Crystal Gems, most especially Pearl, who had first found her mirror. However, she was even less fond of Homeworld Gems. 

Yellow Pearl did not act upset at Lapis. In fact, she barely seemed to hear her. She walked in a circle, wings twitching as she paced and rubbed her chin. "I can't believe it..." she whispered to herself. "But that was thousands of years ago..." Her eyes shot up and met with Peridot's. "How _old_ is she now?"

Peridot scoffed at the question. "Well, logically speaking, she would have to be thousands of years old, now wouldn't she?" 

"An antique!" Yellow Pearl said in awe. "A genuine antique!" 

"How do you know so much about her anyway?" Lapis said, still with an dangerous edge to her voice. 

"I told you. I am most capable of storing information. And my Diamond has a particular interest in the Rebellion. I know every little detail, from the moment Pink Diamond and her first crew landed to the day we corrupted all the useless clods that rose up against the Diamond Authority." A wide grin spread across her face. It was, Peridot had to admit, a little scary. Even with everything corruption had done to her, the Pearl still took delight in the thought that her Diamond had used it against rebelling Gems. 

"H-hey!" Peridot said, face flashing green. "You can't say 'clod'! 'Clod' is my insult! Think of your own!"

The Pearl smirked and ran a clawed finger along the edge of the meep morp's toilet lid. "Forgive me for intruding on your... what did you rebels call it? Creativity?" 

Peridot's cheeks puffed out. That did it. She didn't care what Steven said about how Homeworld Gems might be reasoned with. Or how corruption might damage their thinking. Or how they should try to make friends. She wasn't putting up with one more word of this. That Pearl was getting poofed and going in a bubble, and nothing anyone said to Peridot right now was going to change her--

"Wait," Peridot said, her hand halfway up as she prepared to summon some chunk of metal to act as a weapon. "You said you know everything about the Rebellion?"

Yellow Pearl rolled her eyes. "Obviously."

"Is... is there anyway I could download that data?"

Yellow Pearl looked insulted. "Assuming all your technology here isn't complete junk, yes, I think that's more than possible." 

Peridot stiffened. She had it. She finally had the data she'd been looking for all this time, literally standing right in front of her. True, this wasn't the ideal Gem to strike a bargain with, but Peridot was certainly better off dealing with her than marching off to hack a potentially inhabited Homeworld ship. "Okay, I'm offering you a deal," Peridot finally said. "I want everything you have about the renegade Pearl and the Gem Rose Quartz. Can you do that?" 

"Rose Quartz?" Yellow Pearl asked. She titled her head to the side. "Oh, my. That is some sensitive information you're after. Funny. You're supposed to be a Crystal Gem, and you're asking _me_ for information about your supposed leader? Why is that, I wonder?"

"I don't have to give you reasons," Peridot said. "You give me the data, and I'll make sure you meet Pearl. Is it a deal?"

Lapis gave a small grunt of disapproval, but didn't object directly. Yellow Pearl thought for a moment. At least, she stopped drawing long, thin scratches into the sides of Peridot's meep morp. Her gaze fell to the tablet in Peridot's hand. 

"That's the device?" she said, motioning towards it. 

Peridot nodded and handed the tablet over. Yellow Pearl turned it side to side, then placed her hand on top of it. The tablet glowed with energy. 

"Primitive," she said. "But sufficient. I can store everything you need on here. You may need some Homeword technology to decompress it, though."

Peridot thought back to the waterfalls in Pearl's room. If she could trust this Pearl at all, she'd have her relay all the information there. But she had to be cautious. She'd taken enough risks having this conversation to begin with. "Not an issue," she replied. "So do we have a deal?" 

The Pearl hesitated only a moment before her face broke into a wide (and decidedly uncomfortable-looking) smile. "We have a deal." She closed her eyes, and the tablet glowed once again. Peridot could hear the hum of energy as Yellow Pearl connected herself to the device and poured the data into it. Lapis glared at her like she had just made a very terrible decision, and Peridot tried her best to keep her focus on pretty much anything else in the barn. This wasn't like last time. She would tell Pearl and the others about their agreement as soon as they returned from... wherever they'd gone off to with the Rubies. Plus, in keeping Yellow Pearl around for a bit, she could potentially learn more about why she had come here, and more importantly, who she had come here with. She still had to choose a time to inform her what the function the toilet served. Or maybe she wouldn't tell her. Served that nasty Pearl right for defacing meep morps in the first place.


	20. Alone Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, Katrina here with some exciting news! I've published a collection of my original short stories. If you're interested in a copy, you can find it in the "Books" section of my website, KatrinaSForest.com. (You can find links to Rowan's work on the site as well.) Thanks for reading!

Steven didn't know how it was possible to feel so many different feelings at once. On one hand, he was insanely excited. He and Amethyst were finally about to introduce Smoky Quartz to Pearl and Garnet. On the other hand, he felt guilty. He still hadn't told Coral or Sea Glass about the bracers he'd gotten from Bismuth. They were fused as Pearl now, so did he wait for her to unfuse to speak to them? Or just speak to her as she was? On the third hand (which he didn't have, since he was _not_ fused with Amethyst at the moment), he just felt a sort of sadness... he remembered the Ruby he'd pushed out into space. It wasn't his fault, they'd told him... but he couldn't help feeling like it was. And he couldn't help imagining Pearl... the old single-gem Pearl, floating out there, too. Because no matter how much her refused self tried, things weren't the same as they used to be. She acted more stressed. She whispered and argued with herself. And when she got angry, she quite literally fell apart. 

Maybe the old Pearl really was gone. Maybe it had been stupid to think that Sea Glass and Coral could make her come back. Maybe he was being disrespectful of the two Gem halves by expecting them to do that. Or maybe--

"...really think we should save the Dog Walker for next time," Amethyst was saying. Shoot, she'd been saying stuff before that, too, and he hadn't been paying attention. 

"Well, this is our first impression," he said, not willing to let on that he'd only been half-listening. "We gotta go big. And we should go soon, too, before they get suspicious. Oh, and before my dad comes over."

"You invited your dad?" Amethyst looked suddenly nervous. 

"Well, yeah," Steven said, rubbing his arm a bit. "I mean, he knows about Stevonnie, and I'd like him to know about this, too. I feel like I leave him out of Gem stuff... a lot." 

Amethyst kicked at the floor a bit, but nodded in agreement. "That's fair. I mean, if it's important to you, I'm cool with it." 

Steven smiled, determined not to let himself get too down. Even if a lot of not-so-nice stuff was going on right now, there was a lot of real good stuff, too. He had to focus on the positive. And that meant, for right now, focusing on which awesome yo-yo trick Smoky Quartz would show Garnet and Pearl first.

#

"Okay, Pearl," Garnet said gently, holding out her hand. "Let's try this one more time."

Pearl's hand shook as she reached forward and placed it in Garnet's palm. Once again (for the third time that morning), they did everything right. Their steps were in sync. And there were few things Pearl could think of that she wanted more now than for this to finally work. But when it actually came time and Garnet tossed Pearl into the air, instead of forming Sardonyx, they formed... Garnet and Pearl on the floor. 

"Arg, why can't I get this right?" Pearl wailed, standing up. Garnet made a shushing sound and put a finger to her lips. Amethyst and Steven still didn't know that Pearl had failed at every fusion attempt since reforming, and the two were only sitting in the next room. Thankfully, they seemed to be very involved in some sort of discussion (probably about their recent defeat of Jasper) and neither of them responded to Pearl's lament. She gave a sigh of relief.

"Look, it's not all you," Garnet said, readjusting her visor. "This is a four-Gem fusion now. It's complicated. In some ways, we've all got to get reacquainted with each other all over again."

Pearl stood up and dusted herself off. "Sea Glass and Sapphire got along fine when they were fused," she said thoughtfully, "do you think maybe Ruby and Coral are in conflict?"

"Could be," Garnet said, though more in a tone that indicated Pearl really didn't understand fusion at all. It got frustrating sometimes, and Pearl would be lying if she said she had no jealousy towards Garnet. But for once, she was able to push those thoughts away as her mind wandered elsewhere. 

"What _would_ we get if those two fused?" she asked, then looked to Garnet for her usual future-seeing reply. Garnet, however, shook her head. 

"Future vision can't detect unknown Gems," she said. "It's the reason I got so scared thinking we'd lost you, Pearl. I couldn't see your current self." Pearl tried not to, but she could tell she must have looked horrifically disappointed, because Garnet immediately tried to cheer her up. "But I bet whatever fusion Ruby and Coral made would be pretty amazing."

Pearl attempted to stop frowning and go along. "Well, she'd pack a punch, of course." 

"A very precise punch," Garnet said with a grin. 

"And she'd be passionate, too," Pearl went on. "If you messed with anyone she cared about, you'd be sorry." 

"Big time," Garnet agreed. 

Pearl managed a genuine smile this time. "Well, it's no wonder Sardonyx is so amazing. I mean, being a combination of that fusion and Corundum, how could she not be?"

"Right. Exactly." Garnet held out her hand again. Pearl stared at it for a long time. She did feel confident, like they could actually pull it off this time, but if they failed again, how was she going to deal with that? What more could they try that they hadn't tried already. 

She slowly reached her hand forward, but as she did so, Steven and Amethyst came into the room. Amethyst cleared her throat loudly, a huge grin on her face, and Pearl threw her hands behind her back before anyone figured out what she and Garnet had been trying and failing to do. 

"There's someone we'd like you to meet!" Amethyst announced with a dramatic wave of her hand. 

Pearl had to admit, she wasn't sure quite what to expect from that. Maybe Amethyst had gotten into G.U.Y.S, too, and they had found a really rare one. Maybe she'd taken on a new wrestling persona she wanted to show off. Maybe she and Steven had started a band and roped someone from Beach City into the mess. Whatever was going through Pearl's mind, it wasn't what happened next. 

Steven took Amethyst's hand. The two of them started glowing. Then, in a flash a light, a slate-gray Gem (with three arms, of all things), stood in the kitchen winking at them. 

"Heya," she said. "Smoky Quartz. Nice to meet ya!"

Garnet was flipping out. Not yelling and running around the room like Pearl wanted to do, but bubbling over with a deep, passionate laughter. It was just like Garnet to express herself that way. It was the reason Pearl enjoyed forming Sardonyx as much as she did. Garnet kept many of her emotions hidden. So when they came out, they were pure and genuine. It was impossible not to be happy when she was happy. As Smoky Quartz summoned her weapon and began to show it off (with some serious damage to the house in the meantime), Pearl didn't even think twice. She grabbed Garnet's hand and felt a warm light fill her. Her frustrations faded and her focus went to her happiness, her excitement for Amethyst and Steven's accomplishment. 

Sardonyx straightened herself up (as much as it was possible in the small room) and caught the rogue yo-yo in mid-air. _I did it,_ she thought to herself. _I finally did it!_

It was going to be amazing. She, the lovely and frankly perfect Sardonyx would show Smoky Quartz everything there was to know about being a fusion. She would test and find the new Gem's super strengths, that special connection that Steven and Amethyst shared. She could take them to her room! It would exist now, and she could finally show it off. Oh, what would her audience think of this little development? 

But her thoughts were thrown off as another person walked in the door. 

"Hey, everybody!" Greg called out. He turned and looked at Smoky, who looked back at him with an expression of surprise, but a hint of mild disappointment. Perhaps the Gem had intended some big dramatic introduction that had been thrown off by Greg's entrance? Ah, this fusion was a Gem after Sardonyx's own heart! Nothing to worry about. With a bit of flare and dazzle, Sardonyx could whip up a show that would knock Greg's socks right off him. 

"Oh, um... hi, Sardonyx?" Greg said nervously, looking up at her. He pointed to Smoky. "I guess you... picked up a new Gem on your last mission? Where's Amethyst and Steven?"

Sardonyx blinked. He didn't recognize his own son in a fusion? Simple-minded human. Ah, but this was perfect. Sardonyx could still help Smoky Quartz surprise him. She circled her hand around the smaller Gem dramatically. 

"This, my good man, just happens to be--"

"Hey, everybody!" called out yet another voice. Sardonyx's eye (the upper left one) twitched slightly. This kitchen was starting to get a bit too crowded, if one asked her. But, completely against her wishes, yet another individual entered the room. Specifically, Peridot. 

"I finally have it!" the green Gem announced. "Pearl, I finally have--" She searched around, then stared up at Sardonyx. "Ah, Pearl. There you are. You're going to love this! I have all the data on the memories you lost of Rose Quart. You can read all of these and it'll be like you didn't lose your memories of Rose Quartz at all! So, we're friends again, right?" She grinned and held the tablet up proudly for everyone to see. The group in the kitchen stared blankly at her for a moment, and the confidence on Peridot's face that she had entered with began to fade. 

"I... um... is this a bad time?" she asked. 

No one answered her. Instead, Greg looked at Sardonyx again. "Um, you lost what now?" 

_No!_ a voice inside Sardonyx screamed. _No, I didn't want him to know. He wasn't supposed to know!_

 _Calm down, Pearl,_ another voice said. Softer, more relaxed. _He was going to find out sometime. Let's just sit down and explain--_

_Explain what? That I need him to tell me what Rose looked like? How she acted? The sound of her voice? No!_

Sardonyx leaned over, holding her head and groaning. She heard the shattering of glass and the snapping of shelves as her huge arms bumped and broke the furniture in her way. 

Then, in an instant, she was gone. Garnet and Pearl tumbled away from each other in a flash of light. Garnet managed to land on her feet, but Pearl landed on her side, her body still glowing. With a yell of anger, Sea Glass and Coral unfused. Coral was up on her feet in an instant and she pointed an accusing finger at her counterpart. 

"Don't you dare take Garnet's side on this one!" she snapped. "Don't you dare!"

Sea Glass stood more slowly, rubbing her head. "And what's your suggestion? Keep it to ourselves forever? Greg could tell us a lot of what we're missing, but you're too stubborn to be honest with him."

"I hate him!" Coral yelled. 

"Why?"

Coral opened her mouth to reply, but no words came. The unintended audience to their argument collectively edged back to give the two of them some more space. 

Sea Glass gritted her teeth. "You don't even remember, do you? How can you keep holding onto anger with no reason for it? We've got to move on."

"You move on!" Coral yelled. "That's what you're good at, isn't it? Just being a perfect little Homeworld Pearl -- never getting upset, never standing up for yourself." 

"I'm standing up for myself right now!" Sea Glass said. More like yelled, actually. She didn't do it much, and it sounded so strange to her. She breathed heavily and tried to calm down, looking around her as she did so. Amethyst and Steven had unfused. She hadn't even noticed when it happened or even seen Greg's reaction to it. A wonderful moment ruined, because Coral had to throw one of her little emotional fits. Well, Sea Glass wasn't having it. Not anymore. 

"You know, maybe Bismuth was right," she said. "Maybe the two of us do need some time apart." 

"Um, about that..." Steven said nervously. "I've been... meaning to tell the two of you. I have more of those bracer-thingies that we got from Bismuth. I mean, if you two... really do want to spend some time apart." 

Sea Glass straightened and stared at him a good long while. Steven struggled to meet her eyes, instead tracing the lines on the tiled floor with the edge of his shoe. He hadn't brought this up earlier for a reason; it was written in his face. More than likely, he didn't want the two of them to be separate. Sea Glass struggled against an unease in her gut, a voice that said that Steven was her owner and if he wanted her to fuse with Coral, she should do so. She was the one who had argued for the two of them to refuse to begin with. But things were different now. Before, their survival hinged on fusion. And surely if Steven was offering the bracers, that meant it was okay for her to use them if she wanted. Wasn't it? 

"Well, that's... that's just perfect, then," she said, trying to keep her voice steady. "You should give a bracer to Coral first, though. I think she's going to poof herself with all the energy she's taking to seethe over there. Come on, Greg. I'll explain everything." She took a still-stuttering-in-confusion Mr. Universe by the hand, walked past the stuttering-in-dismay Peridot, and pushed open the door to the living room. She expected to find a nice quiet place to talk alone, she instead found yet another uninvited guest. A winged Pearl sat on the couch. Her head jerked up at the creak of the door hinges. She had a yellow tone to her body, and despite the changes since the last time Pearl had seen her, it took no effort to remember who she was. 

"Might want to come out here, Coral," Sea Glass called. "We have a situation that requires some emotional explosions."


	21. Rose's Last Order

Coral took a deep breath as she entered the room and surveyed the scene before her. She seemed to have developed a reputation as the more... unreasonable of Pearl's two halves, and she wouldn't mind proving the opposite was true. 

Still... this was pushing her limits. She felt Steven poke her in the elbow and looked over to see him silently holding out one of Bismuth's bracers. She took it in equal silence and slipped it on, feeling the refreshing energy surging through her body. There. Much better. She could totally handle herself now. She turned to Peridot. "I'm going to ask this as calmly as I can," she said, massaging the bridge of her nose. "What _happened_ out there with Jasper and what is _she_ ," she pointed to the couch, where Yellow Pearl still sat quietly, "doing in here?" 

"An excellent question," Peridot said. 

But before the green Gem could elaborate, Yellow Pearl stood and spoke. "We've struck a little deal," she said. "I gave her the information she requested and she, in turn, led me here to meet the famous renegade Pearl of the Crystal Gems. I was excited, I admit. But this..." she extended one hand towards Sea Glass and the other towards Coral. "I never expected this." 

She walked towards Coral first, walking a circle around her and looking her up and down before crossing the room and doing the same to Sea Glass. Greg inched uncomfortably away as she did so, although since Sea Glass still had a firm grip on his arm, he couldn't really go anywhere. 

"Fascinating. Absolutely fascinating," Yellow Pearl concluded. "I know all about fission, of course. Yellow Diamond shared all sorts of information with me. But the last I heard, the process was still in its experimental stages. How interesting to see that it finally came to completion." She made one more circle around Coral, her wings twitching the whole way. "I must say, for a Pearl your age, I'm surprised the process didn't shatter you." 

Coral turned up her nose at that remark, but it was Sea Glass who spoke up. "A Pearl... our age? We're not any older than most Gems." 

"Most Gems, yes, but for a Pearl? You're _ancient_!" She emphasized the word as if she had found some exotic Gem artifact standing here in the living room. 

Coral found herself pondering how hard it would be to de-feather this little nuisance, but her curiosity won out over her irritation. "Well, how old are you, then?" she snapped. 

Yellow Pearl stared at her a good long while before answering. Not incredulously, but more... calculating. Her gaze darted between Coral and Sea Glass as if who she answered, and how, would all have some very profound impact on her future. When her deliberations seemed to be over, the Pearl patted her spiked-up hair with a delicate, clawed hand. "Only seven decades. I'm a very recent model." For just a moment, the smug smile fell from her face, but her mouth twitched and she brought it back up again. "Not the newest, of course. But hardly an older model." 

"So, um... what happens to older models?" Steven asked nervously. Coral noticed that Peridot looked rather uncomfortable right now, as if she anticipated what Yellow Pearl was going to say next. 

"Well, some might be gifted to lower-ranked Gems. But otherwise, they're shattered." 

Peridot cringed. Steven's eyes went wide. "Sh-shattered?" he asked. "Who would do something like that?" 

"The Pearl herself, obviously," Yellow Pearl said, with a roll of her eyes. 

_The Pearl... herself?!_ Coral found herself ignited with fury all over again. She didn't remember anything like that happening on Homeworld before the rebellion. Then again, she didn't remember anything in general. She turned to Sea Glass, but found that the indigo Gem looked as shocked and horrified as Steven. 

"That wasn't... that didn't happen back in our time," Sea Glass said, almost as if in defense. Did she think Coral was about to accuse her of hiding something on purpose? For being so smart, she didn't seem like she understood Coral at all. 

"Well, naturally things were different in your time," Yellow Pearl said. "Technology advances were so _slow_ back then. A Pearl would die from natural deterioration long before becoming so obsolete that no one wanted her." She patted her hair once again. "But these days, it's different. And Pearls are so easy to make that it's much simpler to have them dispose of themselves than try to update them. But enough of Homeworld etiquette. Tell me about you two. Aside from the obvious issue of messing with technology beyond your comprehension, what else has the infamous Crystal Gem Pearl been up to since the Rebellion failed so miserably?" 

Coral gritted her teeth. Her dagger was suddenly in her hand; she couldn't even remember summoning it. Peridot and Steven both inched away from her, and she could practically feel the heat emanating from her body. 

"We. Did. _Not._ Fail," she said, barely in control of herself. "We're still here, and we're still protecting Earth." 

Yellow Pearl raised an eyebrow at the dagger's appearance, but otherwise, she seemed unfazed by it. "Hmph. You know, you're so impressive as I thought you'd be," she said, nose in the air and everything. "Anyone who discussed you said that you were the only Pearl to ever act like her own Gem, to make decisions without any input from an owner. But that's not true at all." 

Coral repositioned her grip on the dagger's handle. "What do you mean?" she said. Her voice sounded softer, for some reason. Almost like she was scared. But she couldn't be. Not of Yellow Diamond's stupid accessory. Not of a brainwashed Homeworld Gem. 

Yellow Pearl ginned maniacally. "The Peridot implied you'd lost some of your memories. I suppose you don't remember your old owner then, either. Well, let me enlighten you. You were originally created for Pink Diamond and accompanied her to Earth. However, shortly after your arrival, Rose Quartz began to discuss some potential Gem experiments. Life on this planet, it seemed, could adapt to change much faster than Gems could. Rose Quartz wanted to see if Gems could do the same, and thus Pink Diamond gifted you to her for the sake of the experiment. But Rose Quartz took things too far. She tried to teach you to change your very essence, to become a Gem in your own right. Pink Diamond ordered the experiment ended immediately, but all Rose wanted to do was try to change other Gems. That was how the rebellion began." 

She paced around the room, putting a little twirl in her step, like sharing all this was so delightful, her half-corrupted body couldn't help but put a bit of a dance to it. "Do you know what Rose Quartz's last order to you was? It was right at that glorious moment when we retreated from this planet and doomed any Gems remaining to corruption. Her last order was 'Be free, Pearl.' And all this time, you've been following that order as closely as you can, just behaving like your owner wanted you to. You're no rebel. In fact, you're the most obedient Pearl in Gem history. What other Pearl has followed the same order so loyally for thousands of years _after_ her owner is gone?" 

A sort of booming sound echoed across the room, shaking the floor and tables. Coral thought at first that it might have been a small earthquake, but then looked over to see that Garnet had stepped in, making the living room as crowded as the kitchen had been. Her fists were clenched in rage; it seemed her Ruby side was taking charge. 

"Rose Quartz didn't die in that battle, and she didn't become corrupted!" she said. "She protected us! We've lived on Earth all this time, thanks to her! When she..." Garnet stole a glance at Steven, "...when she _did_ leave, she did it on her own terms. Not yours." 

Yellow Pearl was unfazed. "I see. And in all that time, did she ever say anything else to her Pearl that could be construed as an order? Anything at all?" 

Garnet opened her mouth, but only a blip of a sound came out. Her fists stayed clenched, but her stance said defeat. She had no good retort. And (if her infuriating giggles were anything to go by), Yellow Pearl knew it, too. 

"Pearls can't change their natures. No Gem can. All they can do is pretend. Rose Quartz was a fool, and the rest of you are, too." She flicked her wings, smacking Greg in the face as she did so. The movement seemed to remind her that she did, in fact, still have wings, and she looked at them with a mix of confusion and disappointment in her face. Just as quickly, though, she shook off the expression and turned to Peridot. "I'm done here. I'm going back to that dwelling out in the field to rest." 

"Wait, the barn?" Peridot said. "B-but... but the barn is for me and Lapis!" 

"Well, now it's for me and nobody," Yellow Pearl announced. Then she pushed her way past Sea Glass and opened the door. Her body froze momentarily in the doorframe, her clawed hands gripped its edges tight enough to leave small gashes in the woodwork. Coral could hear her breathing getting heavier. Of course, that might have very well been her own rapid breathing she heard, too. She was, to put it in the most polite terms, thoroughly hacked off. 

"Hang on!" she shouted. "I'm not just following Rose's orders. I am my own Gem! And I'll prove it to you." 

"Oh, please do," Yellow Pearl said, with a dismissive wave of her hand as she walked outside. "That'll be absolutely hilarious, and with all that's happened to me, I could do with the cheering up." And with that she was gone. Coral had had it. With no resolve left to hold her emotions in another second, she let out a furious scream and threw the dagger straight down. It sunk into the wooden floorboards almost up to the hilt. 

No one in the room said anything. No one looked like they _could_ say anything. Steven cautiously walked around the knife, giving it a wide berth as if it might yank itself out of the wood and attack him if he misstepped. Bismuth's bracers clanged and clattered together in his bad as he made his way over to Sea Glass and presented her with one. She thanked him with a simple nod and then turned to Greg. 

"I... I'm sorry," she said, voice quivering. "That... was a lot to take in. But I know I promised you an explanation. Let's step outside." She headed towards the door. 

"You can explain later, it's okay--" Greg began, but Sea Glass shook her head. 

"No. I think talking to you will be a good distraction. Let's go." 

Reluctantly, Greg followed her. Coral scoffed. She didn't understand how explaining this whole mess to Greg Universe could possibly help anything, but if Sea Glass wanted to waste time with that stupid human, let her. Coral had other things to concern herself with. She was going to prove to that ugly, half-corrupted Pearl that she took no orders. She had been her own Gem from the moment Rose Quartz set her free. 

No, she'd prove it to more than Yellow Pearl. She'd prove it to everyone, including Sea Glass, so none of them could have any doubt lingering in their mind. And most of all, she'd prove it to herself. 

\---- 

Sea Glass talked to Greg for much longer than she expected to. It was strange; when she'd been fused with Coral, she could barely tolerate being in Greg's presence. Now, on her own, it was just like talking to any other human. Humans were humans, of course--strange and confusing and changing way too fast to keep up with. But nothing about Greg in particular bothered her when she was on her own. She rubbed the bracer, imagining herself with it all the time, never being together with Coral again. How could she like and hate the same idea so much? 

"So..." Greg said nervously. The two of them had walked around the temple for their talk, finding a spot on the ground that seemed to be half grass and half sand. Greg kept trying to sit on the grass, but as most of it was hard and spiky as grass went, he kept moving more onto the sand instead. By this point, his pants and shoes were covered in it. "I'm really sorry about your, um... loss. Do you... I mean, I don't wanna impose, but if there's anything you want me to fill you in on about Rose, I'll be happy to do what I can." 

Sea Glass let out a forced laugh. "I'll be honest, as far as I've been able to piece together from what everyone's told me, Rose was this unspeakable angel of goodness and perfection who caused peace and joy to erupt on every inch of earth she ever set her flawless foot upon." 

Greg stared at Sea Glass for a good long moment before finally bursting into a (much more genuine) laugh himself. He held his stomach, he was laughing so hard. Sea Glass didn't understand it all. "Can you explain the humor here?" 

Greg went on laughing for a moment longer before he wiped a tear from his eye and managed to collect himself. "I'm sorry," he said. "It's just... the thing is, that's probably exactly how the two of us would describe her." 

"Then you're saying... that description's accurate?" 

"Well, of course it's not accurate!" Greg said, waving his hand for extra dramatic effect. "Nobody's perfect, and Rose wasn't either. I mean, heck, she left a baby at the top of a Ferris wheel because she thought it would be a good adventure for him." 

Sea Glass thought for a moment. "I seem to recall that in Pearl's own ignorance, she did something similar with Steven and a small windmill." 

"Um, say what now?" 

"Never mind. It's not relevant." 

Greg opened his mouth as if to argue that it was indeed very relevant, but then he sighed and shook his head. "Look, the point is, everyone has their flaws. But when you really care about somebody, you notice the good parts of them over the bad." 

"So Pearl... I mean, so I noticed the good things, then?" 

"If anyone said anything bad about Rose, I think you would've skewered them." 

At the word "skewered", Sea Glass heard the sound of twig snapping. She turned to see Steven standing behind them, who gasped and covered his mouth when he realized he'd been spotted. 

"Sorry for bothering you," he said. 

"No, no, you're fine, Steven," Sea Glass assured him, standing. "We were just finishing up, anyway." 

Greg seemed to suddenly realize he was the only one still sitting in the sand and got to his feet as well. Sand rained from his clothes as he dusted himself off. Steven looked between his father and Sea Glass with a healthy amount of caution. 

"So... are you two all right?" he asked. 

Sea Glass and Greg glanced at each other. "All right" was a very weighty term right now. By all accounts, Sea Glass was not all right. She was separated from her other half, potentially on a permanent basis, she fretted about Steven's feelings on the whole thing, her most precious memories were still gone, and one of the Homeworld Gems closest to Yellow Diamond was hanging out in their barn. 

But as far as her relationship with Greg went? 

Sea Glass smiled and said, "Yes, actually. Yes, I think we are." 

Steven sighed with relief. "Oh, good. You know, I just kept feeling like the two of you were really meant to have this big moment where you came to understand each other, only it didn't happen, you know?" 

Sea Glass stared at him blankly for a moment. 

"Never mind," Steven said, shaking his head. "Listen, the reason I came down... Coral's going in to look at all the data that Peridot got from Yellow Pearl. She thought you might want to come see it, too." 

"Oh, um..." Sea Glass shifted around, feeling the loose sand slipping beneath her feet. Just like the concept of staying separated from Coral, Sea Glass both liked and feared the idea of looking at that data. She'd finally started to feel comfortable with everything that had happened. Would looking over the data make her feel better or get her all upset again? 

_Well, I suppose there's no knowing until I do it, now is there?_ She took a deep breath and nodded at Steven. "Okay. Tell her I'll be right there."


	22. Strong in the Real Way

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Based on reader feedback, I made a few edits to the last chapter - Yellow Pearl was not supposed to be as all-together as she seemed. If you want to read ahead, chapter 23 is up on my blog now (fanfiction.katrinasforest.com). Thanks for reading!

As soon as there was any mention of "magic Gem memory stuff", Greg Universe quickly took his leave. Steven walked with Sea Glass up towards the temple, but stopped short when he noticed something strange atop one of the stone hands that cupped the house in its fingers. 

"Is that..." he narrowed his eyes. It could have been a large seagull. If seagulls were yellow and had human-ish arms and legs. 

Sea Glass narrowed her eyes at the figure. "It's that Pearl again." She stood defensively in front of Steven, not quite summoning her staff, but ready to do so quickly if she had to. 

"She said she was going back to the barn," Steven said, and she could hear a touch of caution in his voice, too. It seemed that after so many battles against Homeworld, Steven wasn't so quick to trust other Gems as he used to be. 

"Obviously, she had other ideas," Sea Glass replied. She steeled herself and called up to the Pearl. "We see you up there! What do you want?" 

Yellow Pearl seemed startled, almost losing her balance, but regained herself. Shakily, she spread her wings and glided down to stand a few feet away from Sea Glass. Sea Glass, in turn, summoned her staff and held it out in front of her. Yellow Pearl held up her hands to show she had no intention of attacking, but she did look over the staff with intense curiosity. 

"Oo, you can make a weapon?" Yellow Pearl said. "I thought maybe it was only your other half who could do that. My, my, you two are a regular little pair of Jaspers, aren't you?" 

"We asked what you were doing up there," Steven said, taking a step forward and looking every bit ready to summon his shield. Sea Glass felt guilty listening to his tone. As wonderful as it was that Steven could defend himself now, she dearly wished he'd never had to learn in the first place. She might have remembered nothing about Rose, but she felt sure she had wanted her son to grow up as normal as possible. 

Yellow Pearl winced suddenly and massaged her head. "I really don't have the patience for... for whatever it is you are," she said to Steven, half-growling the first half of her sentence. "I was waiting to speak with Sea Glass." 

Sea Glass straightened. It was the first time Yellow Pearl had actually called her by name. The fact that she'd bothered to remember her name at all was strange on its own. She lowered her weapon a few inches. 

"I'll listen," she said cautiously. "Though I'm not sure what you could have to say to me that you didn't already say inside." She nodded towards the house, where it wouldn't have surprised her if Coral's dagger was still buried in the floorboard. Still, this Pearl had a vast wealth of information that the rest of them didn't. If Sea Glass was, for some reason or another, the only one she would open up to, they had to take advantage of that. She glanced at Steven. 

"Go on in ahead of me, Steven," she said quietly. "I'll be there soon." 

Steven didn't look at all happy about this arrangement, but lowered his arm and nodded at her. He opened the door and headed inside, glancing back over his shoulder every few steps to make sure his ally and their not-at-all-friendly visitor hadn't vanished or broken into a brawl. Then, at last, he stepped indoors and closed the door quietly behind him. 

"Sheesh, organic beings walk slow," Yellow Pearl muttered. Then she turned to Sea Glass. "I hope you don't hold a grudge against me. All those things I said inside... they weren't strictly meant to upset _you_." 

"So, what? They were meant to upset Coral, then?" Sea Glass didn't see how this made all those hurtful words any better, but Yellow Pearl rolled her eyes as if to say, "Yes, obviously." She then walked in a circle around Sea Glass, wings twitching every few steps. 

"I noticed it was Coral who challenged what I said. Coral who said she had to 'prove' she was her own Gem. But you... you don't seem all that interested in proving such a thing. I have to wonder, do you believe it at all?" 

Sea Glass gripped her staff tighter, feeling suddenly uncomfortable. "Believe... what?" she asked. 

"Believe that you are your own Gem? That you have a purpose beyond the happiness of your owner?" She narrowed her eyes. "You do believe you _have_ an owner, don't you?" 

"Y-yes," Sea Glass said defensively. "Steven is my owner." 

A look of relief poured over Yellow Pearl's face at this. "Ah, yes. Rose Quartz's new form. Completely understandable." She waved it off as if it were a minor defect... like a ding in a car's side that she could easily repair later. 

"Listen, I can see everything the fission did to you. The Crystal Gem Pearl was an oddity. What do you do when your only purpose is to take orders and then you're _ordered_ to stop taking them? No wonder the Gem acted as erratic as she did." Yellow Pearl did a small twirl, then leaned down, balancing on one toe, until she and the shorter Sea Glass were nose to nose. "But you... you're separated from all that irrationality. All the defects that Rose Quartz created... they're with your other half now. You're free of that." She grinned and laid a clawed hand against the gemstone on her chest. "If you let me help you, you can _be_ a regular Pearl again. Nothing is tying you to Rose's last order anymore." 

Sea Glass stammered out a few syllables, but couldn't bring herself to voice a complete sentence (or, indeed, a complete word). She could barely grasp it. She'd spent all this time feeling pity for Yellow Diamond's Pearl, but now it seemed the Pearl had been feeling pity for _her._

Yellow Pearl's face softened and she pulled out of her pose, standing on two feet once again. A cool breeze played with the tufts of beach grass around them. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry. I understand that was a bit much. Here, let's back up a bit." She held out her hand. "Fuse with me." 

"Wh-what?" Of all the places Sea Glass thought this conversation was going, that wasn't one of them. "Why?" 

"You want the data on Rose Quartz, don't you?" Yellow Pearl asked. "If you go in there, you're going to have to deal with Coral again. All she's going to do is shoot you down. Tell you that she's right and you're wrong. You don't have to deal with that. Fuse with me and you'll see my memories in an instant. Let Coral deal with the data I gave her." 

Sea Glass looked cautiously down at the hand being offered to her. There was obviously more to this suggestion than Yellow Pearl simply being generous. In fact, Sea Glass had the distinct feeling that Yellow Pearl didn't even know how to be generous. But Sea Glass couldn't deny that she had a point. A fusion would fuse their knowledge, too. Not just selected information that Yellow Pearl had decided to put on that tablet, but all the information she had on Rose Quartz. On Homeworld. On Yellow Diamond. 

Sea Glass felt a renewed determination within her. Coral thought she couldn't be a fighter. Coral thought she was the weak one. But there were different ways of fighting and it wasn't always going at things with a sharp object. One had to apply strategy. That was what Pearl did. That was what Sea Glass would do. And whatever Yellow Pearl was plotting, Sea Glass felt sure she could fend it off. 

"All right," she said. "Let's fuse." She placed her small hand in Yellow Pearl's larger one. Yellow Pearl twirled her around, letting her balance on one toe, before pulling her back in again. How strange... their dance was so similar, it felt like they were mirror version of each other... a better partnership than Sea Glass and Coral had ever been. Yellow Pearl then held Sea Glass by her waist and tossed her into the air. Sea Glass performed a small spin before diving into her fellow Gem in a blast of white light. 

She could feel memories flowing into her instantly. So much information, more than she could imagine, and much more, she was sure, than Yellow Pearl had stored in that little tablet. But the moment the fusion was complete, Sea Glass knew it had been a mistake. Not because of anything related to Yellow Pearl's corruption. That had been Sea Glass's first fear, that Yellow Pearl had nothing to lose and only desired to take Sea Glass down with her. But Steven's healing held fast and Sea Glass felt none of the corruption spreading. In fact, the opposite seemed to be true. Their reformed body had no scales or claws. It did have wings, but they looked elegant and beautiful, the way everything about a Pearl was supposed to look. Two arms, two eyes, nothing like when completely different Gems fused together. Quite frankly, the Pearl fusion looked downright angelic. 

No, where Sea Glass had made her error was that she hadn't accounted for Yellow Pearl's strong personality. Her deeply held belief that she was, at her core, a possession to be owned by another Gem. In this case, her ownership fell to Yellow Diamond. The fusion awoke memories in Sea Glass... very, very old memories of the moment she had emerged as Pearl from the dirt. She had known her purpose then. She had never felt lost or confused. She belonged to Pink Diamond, and her Diamond would tell her everything she needed to be, everything she needed to do. She never had any self-doubts back then. And the longer the fusion held, the less self-doubts she had right now. Being fused with Yellow Pearl instead Coral, Sea Glass's desire to be independent became deeply suppressed. Her desire to see home again greatly amplified. 

_You... you tricked me..._ one part of the fusion whispered to the other in her mind. 

_Of course I did. You knew I had ulterior motives when I offered to fuse. You miscalculated and thought you could fight me off._

_But why? Why would you do this?_

_You know why. I was no longer wanted by Yellow Diamond. I'd been partially corrupted. But you... you came from an antique Pearl, a valuable collector's item with valuable information about the Crystal Gems' current movements and resources. I knew if I had that... Yellow Diamond would want me again._

The fusion smiled. 

_If you wanted it badly enough, you could break this fusion apart. And yet it's staying together._

It was true. Sea Glass could feel Yellow Pearl's desires merging with her own, becoming her own. Yes, she had been made to serve a Diamond. That was the highest honor any Pearl could have. She couldn't feel anger towards Yellow Pearl for what she had done; she was merely doing what a Pearl should do... returning to serve her owner at any cost. And with this new fusion, Yellow Diamond would never want to part with her again. 

The new fusion spread her elegant wings, not a twitch or quiver, not an unsightly scale anywhere. 

_We're going home..._ I'm _going home... back to what I'm supposed to be._

\---- 

Coral stood beside the door leading to the Gems' rooms, with Peridot wringing her hands beside her. Coral had to admit, she missed the old, not-guilt-ridden Peridot, despite the disagreements she and Pearl sometimes had. Then again, Coral had so many feelings right now, her gut felt like some freakish, forced emotional fusion. 

"So... I, um... all the data you need is right here," Peridot said. She removed the tablet from where she'd been storing it on the Velcro strap around her arm. With a nervous smile, she handed it over to Coral. "Nothing's different than from when the Pearl put everything on here. I-I mean to say, I wasn't mishandling the information or looking at it or anything else that might bother you, or--" 

"Peridot," Coral said firmly. 

The green Gem stopped talking. She looked up at Coral with wide, stressed eyes. The words that could take away all that stress hung in the air. All Coral had to do was actually say them. 

"Look, whatever other mess you've caused..." Coral gritted her teeth. Why did this have to be so difficult? "...even I have to admit that you're obviously trying to make amends, and I--" 

"Oh, yes!" Peridot piped up. "I am trying extremely hard at that! Making amends is something I have researched thoroughly, and--" 

Coral held up one hand and with the other, massaged the bridge of her nose. Peridot went silent once again. "My point being, while I might not be ready to forgive what you did to me, I still appreciate that you're trying. And I know Sea Glass has already forgiven you. Just... give me time, okay?" 

Peridot stiffened at the words. Coral wasn't quite sure what sort of reaction she expected, but Peridot tearing up wasn't one of them. This situation had just become incredibly awkward. "For the love of my sanity, please don't cry," she said. 

Peridot's expression changed instantly. "Peridots do _not_ cry!" she growled. "I am merely giving the illusion that my visual input spheres are producing liquid in order to set the emotional tone that I thought you would prefer." She crossed her arms and sharply turned away from Coral, as if to emphasize just how incredibly insulted she was at the very suggestion. After a moment, thought, her arms slackened and she added quietly, "Incidentally, I am grateful for your forgiveness... in whatever amount you're willing to offer it." She cleared her throat and turned back to the door. "I'm not sure if the door will open without you and Sea Glass fusing again, but once it does, you can easily download the tablet's compressed data into the waterfalls, and from there--" 

The lights in the house flickered. At least, that was what Coral thought had happened. But then she realized something had been flickering not inside, but outside... the bright, white light of a new fusion. 

"Um, guys?" Steven called nervously. "I don't see Sea Glass outside anymore! And, um... that yellow Pearl looks different. I think she got bigger!" 

_No!_ The thought pounded in Coral's ears; panic ran like poison through her body. _No, there's no way Sea Glass would have fused with her. She's smarter than that._ We're _smarter than that!_ Dropping the tablet on the nearest flat surface (which happened to be the coffee table), Coral sprinted for the front door, with Peridot close behind her. She heard the clattering footsteps of Garnet, Amethyst, and Steven too, but her focus wasn't on them. She shoved open the door with a thunderous bang only to see her nightmare scenario turned reality. 

A larger, more elegant version of Yellow Pearl turned and smiled at her. "Hello," she said with a smile. "Come to say good-bye? I know you won't miss me." She spread her wings wide, ready to take to the sky. 

Coral didn't reply. Didn't even think. All she could do was run forward. All she could focus on was stopping that Gem from taking off, no matter what.


	23. The Fusion

Peridot watched the scene before her in a sort of stunned amazement. 

The Pearl fusion caught sight of Coral charging her and, to her credit, did an excellent job of almost escaping. She attempted to fly into the air, but could not get sufficient lift fast enough. Coral leapt up and grabbed her legs, yanking her back to earth and throwing her hard into the ground. In a flash, she summoned her dagger and straddled the Pearl fusion's neck (her smaller size made straddling the chest rather impossible). She aimed her blade at the Pearl fusion's face, a strike that would most likely cause immediate poofing if she delivered it successfully. 

Unfortunately, the fusion was at too big an advantage and summoned what looked to be Sea Glass's staff. With a grunt, she shoved Coral off her and again began to spread her wings.   
"Wait!" Steven yelled loudly. Peridot winced at the sheer volume of his voice, surprised that his puny human soundbox could produce that level of decibels. Even the Pearl fusion stopped and looked at him strangely. 

"Steven..." Her voice quivered. It was as if Steven's demand had frozen her in place. But why? Yellow Pearl held, as far as Peridot could tell, the same feelings towards Steven that Peridot had once held. He was a kind, but a strange, unnatural creature, a Gem taking an unprecedented form. No Pearl had no reason to listen to anything he said. Except...

"Of course!" Peridot exclaimed. "The Pearl might be loyal to Yellow Diamond, but Sea Glass thinks of Steven as her owner. She can't disobey him so easily." 

The fusion growled in frustration, holding her head in her hands. "No... you're not my owner anymore! I belong to Yellow Diamond!" She leaned over, her wings still spread wide, but not flapping. "I belong to... Yellow Diamond..." she repeated through painful-sounding gasps. "You can't keep me here. I'm going to contact her. She's going to ask for me back." 

Steven held up his hands in defense. He didn't step forward, which was annoying. Then again, Peridot caused more than a few messes lately from rushing into things. Perhaps holding up one's hands and _not_ charging forward was the better course of action on occasion. 

"Okay," Steven said. Gently, calmly. "Let's say you do contact Yellow Diamond. She can be a little... finicky, from what I saw of her. What if she doesn't want you ba--"

"She will!" the Pearl fusion shouted. "She has to! I have part of the Crystal Gem Pearl inside me now. I'm too valuable to give up!" 

Steven nodded and kept his hands held high. It was unclear if speaking again would keep her here or jolt her mind enough that Yellow Pearl would take full control and fly away. But whether it was risky or not, someone had to do something. 

"Can we... talk to Sea Glass?" Peridot asked nervously. 

The fusion glared at her. "We're one and the same now. You can't separate us." 

Peridot straightened. "Then... I have something to say to you," she announced. 

Everyone looked at her in confusion. Peridot couldn't blame them. She never had been the speechifying type. But... Earth changed a lot of things. "There was... a certain point when I thought Pearls couldn't do anything. I thought you couldn't be an engineer. Or a fighter. Or... anything, really. But I've learned how wrong I was." She placed her hand on her chest. "It's more than that. I've fought against other Gems now. I never thought I could be a fighter, either. And yet, that's what I am now." She held out her hand. 

"You're the one who taught me that. Not Steven. Not Amethyst. You." She took a couple more slow, cautious steps closer to the shaking fusion. "If you belong to someone else, everything always depends on what they want and how they see you. But, if you stop caring about other Gems' approval, you'll be a lot happier. Trust me. I know."

"You don't know anything!"

"Even if Yellow Diamond takes you back, you said it yourself: eventually Pearls fall out of fashion. I don't want to see you shattered. Or shatter yourself. That would be..." Peridot's throat tightened. "It would be... very undesirable for me. For all of us."

Yellow Pearl looked at Peridot, then out to the rest of the group in bewilderment. Everyone seemed to be nodding, with their heads or their eyes, in silent agreement with Peridot's words. "You... why _wouldn't_ you want me shattered?" the fusion asked. "We are enemies."

Steven shook his head. "We care about all Gems," he said. 

"That's right!" Peridot chimed in. "Everyone deserves the right to live. No matter what type of Gem they are. And even if they're corrupted." It was the wrong thing to say. The fusion's eyes went wide and she hugged herself, her body shaking violently. The elegance that was so becoming of a Pearl seemed to be draining from her. 

"I'm not... corrupted," she said. "This fusion can hide that!" 

Much to Peridot's surprise, it was Coral who spoke next. 

"No, it can't," she said firmly. "You can't pretend your faults don't exist. Well, I mean... you _can_ , but it's not healthy. And the truth usually comes out in the end." She rubbed the gem on the side of her forehead. "Take us for example. We're two parts of a greater Gem, Sea Glass. And... and I think that Gem needs to learn that she can't pick and choose the parts of her personality. She has to accept who she is, her strengths and her faults. It's all wound together." 

Yellow Pearl continued to stare at the group offering her this proverbial olive branch and gave no response for a good long while. "It is... very strange to hear all of you speak. Your words sound so much like those of Rose Quartz." She stared off into space, as if she could see an image there, even though, logically speaking, the most she could see were squeaking seabirds. "I can see it now... everything Homeword knows about Rose... it's all in my mind. I can see she wasn't angelic. Far from it. She hurt so many Gems." 

If Peridot didn't know any better, she would have sworn she saw a tear escaping the fusion's eye. But when Peridot blinked, the tear seemed to be gone. 

"But then, she also had so many ideas for how Gems could grow and change... I don't understand how her thinking... how _your_ thinking got so twisted. There is no place for useless Gems. They produce disorder." 

Peridot smiled. "Well, here on Earth, we like disorder," she said proudly. "Seriously, you should see Steven's room. Or Amethyst's. That's some impressive disorder right there."  
Amethyst grinned with pride, while Garnet managed a "mmm" of agreement. Yellow Pearl continued to stare at Peridot like she had never seen anything so strange in all her life. "Maybe that is how it is on Earth for you..." she began to say, then gritted her teeth. 

"Enough of this!" she growled. "I'm leaving!" 

"No, stop!" Steven cried, but this time, his words had no effect. The Pearl fusion got a running start and leapt into the air. Her serene figure began to fly away, out of everyone's reach. Amethyst grabbed her whip and attempted to capture the fusion by the ankle, but the nimble Gem dogged it easily. A few more moments and she'd be out of their speaking range, too. This couldn't happen. Peridot wouldn't let it. 

"Come back!" the green gem yelled. "We can't... we _need_ you here!

The fusion paused, but did not falter in her flight. Peridot swallowed hard and continued, "I know you haven't exactly felt wanted lately. But everyone feels that way sometimes! But I know... that doesn't mean you run away. It means you stay and work things out." Peridot had to admit, it was an impressive speech. The bigger question was, would it have any effect? 

"Do you... really want me back?" the fusion asked in a soft voice. 

"Yes!" Coral answered. 

"Yes!" Peridot answered in perfect sync.

Instead of providing reassurance their words only seemed to make the fusion more angry. She gave a few powerful flaps of her wings, bringing herself to hover even higher above them.   
"I know you want the Pearl half back," she growled. "I mean... do you want _me_? Both parts of this fusion? You said you accept all Gems. If I... if I stopped trying to return to Yellow Diamond... would you accept _me_?"

Peridot couldn't reply right away. She certainly had no intention of lying (she had found lies had the nasty habit of causing more problems). But at the same time, they had to get Sea Glass back. Using her doubtlessly superior logic, Peridot determined that there was only one safe course of action here: to tell the fusion that they would welcome both Yellow Pearl _and_ Sea Glass on Earth and actually mean it.

"If you... don't mean us any harm," Peridot said carefully. "Then of course, we want both of you here."

The fusion made no immediate reaction and continued to hover in the air a long time. Whatever internal struggle was going on, she was determined not to show it. Or maybe, the two halves weren't so much arguing with each other as they were debating with each other. Both had a certain longing for Homeworld that every Gem around them rejected. Coming back could mean more rejection. Each of them had to decide if they were ready to face that. 

Then, at last, the fusion lowered herself to the ground. Tears fell from her eyes, then in a flash of white light, the two halves separated from each other. Yellow Pearl and Sea Glass stood side by side, both looking guilty and insecure, both crying. 

Coral ran forward and hugged Sea Glass so tight, Peridot was surprised it didn't poof her. She then whirled her around and in the next moment, Sea Glass's body lit up with light again. The Crystal Gem Pearl stood once again in front of the group. She kept her eyes closed for a moment, her head down as she whispered, "I thought you hated me..."

"I don't hate you. It just... got frustrating. We're so different. And... I thought _you_ hated _me_." 

"No, of course not! I never meant for you to think that! I'm so sorry..."

"It's okay. Everything's okay now. We're back together." 

At this, Pearl stopped whispering and looked out over the group once again. 

Steven took a cautious step forward. "So, you're staying together?" he asked hopefully.

Pearl smiled. "Seems that way."

Steven's eyes welled up with tears; his lower lip quivered uncontrollably. Throwing up his hands, he declared with unnecessary decibels, "Group hug!" The phrase clearly had meaning to Garnet and Amethyst, but Peridot and Yellow Pearl were left a bit lost. Garnet threw an arm over Pearl's shoulder, while Amethyst rushed up to Peridot and yanked her forward her by the arm, pulling her into some strange embrace-sharing formation with the other two. Everyone squeezed everyone else. It was very uncomfortable. And yet, in a strange way, it felt reassuring.   
"Hey, you come in here, too!" Steven called to Yellow Pearl. "Group hug means the _group_ hugs!" 

The Yellow Pearl startled, like the concept sounded ridiculous, but gave it a try nonetheless. Garnet pulled her in first, and Peridot could feel the sharp scales on the Yellow Pearl's arm pressing into her, increasing the discomfort level. It seemed these Crystal Gems really did welcome anybody. At some earlier point, she would have called it foolishness. Now, she was happy for it. 

As the group slowly game apart, and everyone started making small talk with Pearl, Peridot turned and noticed a streak of light across the sky. Her stomach sank. She knew what the light meant, but hated to break up the reunion this quickly. Yellow Pearl, however, felt no such sentimentality and redirected everyone's attention to the sky. 

"That's Nephrite's ship," she said. "She must have sensed the Gem activity here. She'll arrive soon." 

The group went silent as everyone exchanged awkward glances with each other. As a general rule, Peridot could only take so many crisis situations in a day. She could only imagine everyone else had the same limits. But, it seemed, this day was determined to push those limits as much as possible.

"Yellow Pearl," Garnet said firmly. The Gem snapped to attention. "Go back to the barn and get Lapis. We'll need her help for this." 

"R-right. Of course." She turned to leave, but Steven reached out and grabbed her hand first. 

"It's all right," he assured her. "We'll protect you. I promise." 

Peridot stepped forward and laid a hand on the Pearl's scaled shoulder. "We all promise. Let's do this."


	24. Teamwork

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I was away for so long! This turned out to be one monster of a chapter... and I still feel like it goes a little fast for my tastes. (Maybe I'm trying to tie up too many loose ends at once...) Anyway, as with all other chapters, I'd love to hear feedback, both positive and negative. (And if it's negative, I'll do what I can to make improvements.) I really appreciate everyone who stuck with this story and I'm glad for any enjoyment you got out of reading my work. 
> 
> For now, I think this is the end of Coral and Sea Glass's saga. I'm playing around with other Steven Universe ideas, but they're going to need to sit for a while before I write anything down. 
> 
> Thank you once again! -Katrina

Yellow Pearl had, if nothing else, an impeccable sense of direction and found her way to the barn within minutes. Lapis was there, flinging what appeared to be colored water at a piece of fabric stretched over a wooden rectangle. This apparently took a great deal of concentration, as Yellow Pearl had to call out to her several times to get her attention. 

"Wha-- who?" Lapis jumped and turned around, sending a spray of the colored liquid off to the side. Upon seeing Yellow Pearl, her eyes narrowed. "Oh, you're back," she said nonchalantly. "Are you here to threaten us again? Or did Steven win you over already?" 

"I-I..." Yellow Pearl stuttered. She had anticipated in her flight here that she would have a most difficult time convincing Lapis Lazuli she had changed sides. For the blue Gem to already predict her betrayal left her dumbfounded. "He... they... won me over, I suppose." 

"Ah. Okay, then," Lapis said with a shrug. She then started to go back to her work, jolting Yellow Pearl out of her confusion.

"Wait, I didn't just come here to tell you that!" she said. "We need your help! My Nephrite is attacking the Crystal Gems right now!" 

Lapis froze and turned back to look at Yellow Pearl, her face solemn. "You're sure... it's a Nephrite?"

Yellow Pearl nodded. "I traveled with her here, so yes, I am fairly confident in that assessment." 

Now Lapis shifted around nervously. Yellow Pearl didn't blame her. No doubt her command over water was quite remarkable, but Nephites had a unique ability as well. Namely, they could disable the special abilities of other Gems in their vicinity. Within close distance of a Nephrite, Sapphires lost their future vision, Jaspers' incredible strength waned, Peridots could no longer manipulate metal... and of course, Lapis Lazulis could not control water. 

Watching Lapis standing there looking so forlorn and helpless, Yellow Pearl questioned if the Crystal Gems truly thought Lapis could help some other way or they were simply ignorant. She was starting to suspect the latter. 

"I won't be enough," Lapis finally said. A statement of the obvious. "We need actual, physical weapons." 

"From where?" Yellow Pearl asked. Or, started to ask, anyway. As the words left her lips, one of Sea Glass's memories lit up in her mind. It wasn't completely clear now that Yellow Pearl wasn't part of the fusion anymore... but it was clear enough. Not that long ago, the Crystal Gems had come into contact with an old ally... a Bismuth. If they needed weapons... well, there was no one better to ask. 

Yellow Pearl closed her eyes, trying to focus. The memory was like a retreating shadow in her mind, always slipping further and further away from her the more she tried to chase it. She attempted to relax, to let the memories come to her. 

_Bismuth distrusted Sea Glass,_ she recalled, trying to shed light on Bismuth's personality as much as her location. _If she sees me, there's no way she would trust me._ She clasped her hands together, feeling the rough scales on her wrists. Nephrite was here because of Yellow Pearl. They were defending her. Even if there was little chance Bismuth would assist them, surely she owed to her new allies to give it a try.

"I... I have an idea," she told Lapis. "Go help the Crystal Gems as much as you can. I'll back as soon as I can get..." Her voice trailed off. What _did_ she expect to get from this? A super weapon? Bismuth herself? 

"Get what?" Lapis asked, tilting her head. 

"Just go!" Yellow Pearl snapped. Then, spreading her wings, she took to the sky once again.

\----

According to Sea Glass's memories, there were a few places that Bismuth could generally be found back during the Rebellion. The first and most obvious place was her main forge. But since it had been abandoned after her argument with Steven, Yellow Pearl had to rely on Sea Glass's much older memories of Bismuth's other locations. The back-up forges, for lack of a better word, were scattered nearby the Gem Battlefield, prepared to replicate the work of the main forge in the event that Homeworld took it over. Of course, they were all easily accessible by Warp Pad. And if there was anywhere Bismuth would go, Yellow Pearl was certain it would be one of those forges. 

The trouble, as it turned out, wasn't with _finding_ Bismuth -- it was with staying in one piece once Bismuth had been found. 

"Who's there?" bellowed a deep voice as soon Yellow Pearl knocked at the rocky entrance of the secondary forge. Like the first, this one was also located within a volcano, albeit an inactive one that had grown cold long ago. Startled by the loud voice, Yellow Pearl stepped back and held up her hands in defense, even though the door hadn't actually opened yet. 

"I-I... I'm, um..." How _did_ she introduce herself? Certainly not as one of the Crystal Gems. And if she didn't want to get herself shattered, certainly not as "the former Pearl of Yellow Diamond", either. 

_So... an ally, then?_ She swallowed hard and called out in a timid voice, "I'm a friend!"

At first, she heard no reply. Then a set of heavy footsteps got louder and louder as they approached the stone door. Yellow Pearl hadn't noticed it before, but there was an indent in the door towards the top, which now lit up like a rainbow. Stone grated against stone as the door swung open. 

Bismuth stepped out, looking over Pearl's head at first. The Gem was even more intimidating in real life than in the whispers of Sea Glass's memory. She glanced down and her eyes widened, though in recognition or general surprise at finding someone at her doorstep, Yellow Pearl couldn't say. 

"You... are you from Homeworld?" she asked. Well, she knew she wasn't looking at a Crystal Gem, at least. Maybe it was the lack of a star. 

"I-I... yes?" Yellow Pearl squeaked. 

"Ha!" Bismuth said, then reached for something out of Yellow Pearl's line of sight. "They told me you parasites were still after this place. Didn't think they'd send a Pearl scouting, but hey, maybe attitudes have changed in the past five thousand years." She drew her hand back and Yellow Pearl saw that it now contained a massive hammer about twice as big as Yellow Pearl herself. "So tell me," Bismuth said with a wicked smile, "which of those big Gem elites do _you_ belong to?" 

"I-I-I..." Her legs shook. She was going to faint again, she just knew it. But if she did, what would Bismuth do with her? What would the others back fighting Nephrite do without her? No, regardless of how much it went against everything she knew, she had to stand and speak up for herself. "I belong to nobody!" she blurted out. 

She was shocked at the confidence, the _pride_ in her own voice at this statement. Not that long ago, she would have been horrified at the concept of belonging to no one. In truth, some part of her was still scared of the idea. But another part, a part she tried so hard to hold onto right now, was excited. Excited to be in a world where she could be her own Gem... to be valued as herself. Not an accessory, but a friend. 

"I belong to nobody," she repeated. "And I'm here on behalf on the Crystal Gems." 

Bismuth lowered her hammer. "You're here on their behalf, but you're not one of them?" Yellow Pearl noted that she did not actually let go of the hammer. "Start explaining. Quick." 

So Yellow Pearl explained. She started with the fact that she used to belong to Yellow Diamond. This was a mistake of the highest order, as Bismuth tightened her grip on the hammer and nearly used it right then and there. But Yellow Pearl raised her wings, showing evidence of her corruption, the proof that she was no longer wanted by Yellow Diamond, or any Gem, for that matter. She explained how she had tried to use the Crystal Gem Pearl to help her regain her status, how she'd realized it was wrong, and how the others had forgiven her. It all sounded so strange when she repeated it back. They shouldn't have forgiven her, had no reason to. Yellow Diamond certainly never forgave anyone -- she paid back the smallest slights tenfold. 

But then, maybe that was part of what made Earth different. 

"So," Bismuth said, lowering the hammer once more and finally setting it on the ground, "you're not trying to return to the Diamonds... what _are_ you doing here?" 

"I'm here because my Nephrite is attacking the Crystal Gems," Yellow Pearl said. "And I need a weapon to help them." 

"You want me to give _you_ a weapon?" Bismuth said with a tone of utter disgust.

Yellow Pearl's cheeks puffed with frustration. "Well, I need _something_!" she said. "I know they can't win that fight on their own, and I know I don't have any skills they could make use of. Coming to you... was the only idea I had left." She winced at voicing her own weaknesses aloud like this. She had always fallen back on her Diamond's strength, she had felt powerful because her Diamond was powerful. Being one's own Gem had its vulnerabilities. 

In a strange way, Bismuth looked sympathetic. "I had a weapon," she said, looking off in to the distance as if said weapon were hidden somewhere on the massive battlefield not far from here. "I had a weapon that would have changed everything... but it's gone now." She gritted her teeth in anger. "I don't think I can go back and face Rose right now. I'm afraid of what I'll do. What I almost did last time..." She shook her head. There was obviously something on her mind, but Yellow Pearl dearly wished she would save her musings for another, less pressing occasion. 

"Wait here," Bismuth finally said and slipped back into the darkness of the forge. Yellow Pearl heard some banging and clanging around before the massive Gem returned and held out a small, crescent-shaped handle. It appeared to lack a blade of any sort, but when Bismuth pressed her thumb in just the right spot, a red hot blade of light extended from the crescent's tip. It wasn't long, maybe two Pearl-sized hand widths at best. Bismuth loosened her grip and the light-blade retracted. 

"I don't have the stash here I did at my other forge," she said. "And you're so puny, I doubt I have much you could use anyway. But this will cut through the outermost armor of the Nephrite's ship for you. Maybe there's something you can do from there."

Yellow Pearl took the weapon and grasped it. Despite its small size, it still weighed heavily in her skinny arms. Getting through the outermost armor meant the weapon couldn't break into the cockpit. Not in enough time, at any rate. But it _could_ get through to the wiring, making the ship open to sabotage by a certain, traitorous Peridot. "I know exactly who could make use of this," she said, smiling. "Thank you for your help." 

Bismuth nodded. Not with gratitude, or even a smile, really. Just a nod of acknowledgment. She still looked saddened, but not worried. As if she knew the Crystal Gems would win and only wished she could bring herself to join them. 

Well, whatever was in her head, Yellow Pearl certainly didn't have time to ponder it now. She made a quick bow (a force of habit, really) and hurried back to the Warp pad.

\-----

The fight against Nephrite was not going well. Yellow Pearl was no expert in military tactics, but she surmised on her arrival that the fire on the beach house roof was not part of the Crystal Gems' battle strategy. Not wishing to put herself in harm's way if she didn't have to, Yellow Pearl landed on the back balcony and carefully crawled through the gaping hole in a shattered window. 

She found herself on the upper floor of the house in some sort of... meditation area? There was a large rectangular pillow the size of the fusion Garnet, and the Gems had it propped against the wall. Steven was clutching his legs, leaning against it. Crystal Gem Pearl crouched in front of him, a defensive arm outstretched while Garnet picked up chunks of wood and other debris and threw them through a hole in the wall at the Nephrite's ship. Of course, it was all to no avail. The ship fired its weapons, and the house shook violently. 

Peridot glared through her visor, figures scrolling past at an alarming rate. "There's no weakness in this thing!" she yelled. "We have to make a run for it!" 

"Make a run to where?" Lapis snapped. "Every time we try to get out onto the beach, she fires missiles at us!" 

A chunk of wood fell from the ceiling, tearing a whole in the giant pillow and revealing some battered and coiled springs inside. Lapis winced at the sound, then caught sight of Yellow Pearl. "There you are!" she gasped. The rest of the group turned and stared. Yellow Pearl tightened her grip on Bismuth's gift. Looking at the destruction around her, it now felt horribly small. 

"Geez, about time you got back!" Amethyst snapped, catching a falling beam with her whip and flinging it away before it could crush Steven to a meaty pulp. "What did you bring us? Can I throw it? Does it explode?" 

Yellow Pearl rolled her eyes. Amethysts had such one-track minds sometimes. "It doesn't explode and we don't throw it," she said, then held the weapon out for them all to see. "It's designed to cut through to the ship's wiring. I can fly Peridot there, and she can break the locks on the ship's doors, opening a way in." 

"Right," Garnet said. "Except that Peridot isn't a fighter. Nephrite would slaughter her." 

Yellow Pearl rubbed her chin. "Well, what about Pearl then? She's not too heavy. I could fly her over." 

Pearl seemed very pleased with this suggestion and nodded her agreement. 

"What about you, Garnet?" Peridot asked, sounding annoyed. "You could just unfuse. Ruby and Sapphire are each light enough for Yellow Pearl to carry." 

Garnet shook her head. "Oh, no. I couldn't do that. Too traumatizing." 

"Traumatizing?" Amethyst asked skeptically.

"That's right. Traumatizing," Garnet replied, sounding completely calm and confident as ever. "I am literally quaking with fear at the thought." 

_You're not quaking with anything, least of all, fear,_ Yellow Pearl wanted to point out. But they didn't have time for arguments. If Garnet was refusing to leave, for whatever her ridiculous reasons were, then they had to stick with their first plan. 

"You might be able to go by yourself," Peridot said, looking at Pearl. "I mean, you're as handy with tech as I am." 

_She is?_ Yellow Pearl found this difficult to believe, but no one else in the room seemed to find Peridot's statement the least bit unusual, so she kept quiet. Crystal Gem Pearl smiled with appreciation at the comment but shook her head. "You're more familiar with modern Gem tech. And this might be our only shot at this. Go. I'll be right behind you." 

Peridot nodded and stepped over towards Yellow Pearl, who clasped her arms around Peridot's waist. _Well, here goes nothing,_ she thought and took to the air. 

The flight went smoothly at first, as Nephrite still seemed set on burning the house to the ground and admittedly, didn't expect any of the Crystal Gems to gain the power of flight mid-battle. Once she spotted Yellow Pearl and Peridot however, her attacks on them became just as relentless as the ones on the beach house. Yellow Pearl swerved to one side then the other, trying desperately to stay aloft. But she wasn't exactly used to flying, and flying with a passenger made it much worse. 

"Left! Left!" Peridot screamed, pointing to her right. 

"Don't order me around!" Yellow Pearl snapped back. She spotted a missile coming their way and took a quick dive up, narrowing missing it. The missle exploded in the air below them, and the force of it sent Yellow Pearl spiraling even higher. To her surprise and pleasure, she suddenly found the wing of the Nephrite's ship must closer than it had been a minute ago, too close for Nephrite to fire at them without risking damage to herself. Yellow Pearl quickly dropped Peridot right where the wing met the main body of the ship, then landed herself to catch her breath. 

Peridot was gasping for breath as well, though since she had not been the one flying, Yellow Pearl failed to see what could have exhausted her. She was making a strange sound, too. Almost like... laughing. 

"What could possibly be humorous about this right now?" Yellow Pearl snapped, straining to be heaerd above the wind. 

"You told me not to order you around," Peridot said with a chuckle. "Guess the Crystal Gem attitude really is wearing off on you." 

Yellow Pearl's cheeks grew hot. "I-I... I didn't mean... Don't take me for a--" She shook her head. "I'm... I'm going to get Pearl now!" She spread her wings and flew off. Peridot looked positively smug as she pulled out Bismuth's tool and began cutting into the ship's side. 

Within a few minutes, Yellow Pearl had returned with her Crystal Gem counterpart and Peridot had already removed a large section of the ship's metal shell. She was elbow-deep in wires (which, for a Peridot, wasn't very deep at all), but she looked thoroughly pleased with herself. 

"Pearl!" she said happily, then looked at the two Gems standing beside her. "Erm, _Pearls._ Glad you're back. I've gotten into the system. When I attach these two wires, an emergency hatch is going to open up right next to us." She nodded to her right side. "That's when you go in and do your thing!"

The Crystal Gem Pearl nodded confidently. 

A spark flew from the jumble of wires, and the door opened exactly as Peridot predicted. Unfortunately, instead of sliding sideways, it blew itself off its hinges, smacking Crystal Gem Pearl and throwing her off balance. She gave a yelp and desperately grabbed for anything that could stop her from tumbling over the edge... "Anything" in this case being Peridot's foot. Peridot screeched in surprise, but seeing that her limb was the only thing keeping her friend tethered to the ship, she braced herself against the edges of the hole she'd cut and held fast.

"I've got you!" she called. "Um... sort of. It's okay!"

Crystal Gem Pearl replied with a not-at-all-reassured grunt.

_I've got to help them,_ Yellow Pearl thought and started to open her wings to fly over. But as she did so, something clamped onto her rightmost wing, pinning her down and sending a spasm of pain through her body. She cried out and looked up, only to find herself face-to-face with Nephrite. Her former owner glared down at her with pure hatred and disgust... as if Yellow Pearl's continued existence offended all of Gemkind.

"I thought I saw you land up here," she growled. "I'll not sure how you managed to even get this far... what got into your tiny, malformed brain that you thought you stood a chance against me, but this ends here!" She ground her foot against against the twisted feathers. A tear escaped Yellow Pearl's eyes, flying out into the wind. Maybe Nephrite was right. Maybe she had been foolish to think she could be anything. Maybe she should have just shattered herself when she became corrupted. But it... it wasn't so much to want to live, was it? Even if it was far from home, even if it was without an owner, she still wanted to live... 

Her body stiffened at a strange sound. Peridot and Pearl were discussing something... The words were hard to catch in the wind, but whatever it was, Peridot looked unsure, nervous. Pearl was more determined, nodding, as if trying to talk Peridot into something.

"...sure?" Peridot was asking. "Really sure?"

"Positive," Pearl replied. "Do it!" 

Before either Nephrite or Yellow Pearl could react, Crystal Gem Pearl swung herself upwards. Then her and Peridot's bodies began to glow. Their two forms merged into one another and instead of two small Gems barely keeping their grip on the ship, there was suddenly a much larger Gem pulling herself to her feet with no effort at all. 

The light from the Gem's body faded and she straightened up. She was pale green in color (not that different from Nephrite, actually), with four arms, distinctly Pearl-like hair, and Peridot's signature visor. She looked over her hands in surprise, then grinned. 

"Oh ho ho!" she said with a surprisingly powerful laugh. "So _this_ is a fusion! Yes, yes... I can see the appeal." 

She turned to Nephrite, standing a good head (or even two) above her. "I'm so terribly sorry, but I need to ask you to leave now." 

Nephrite sputtered some sort of nonsensical response but did not move. The fusion, in turn, pulled back her fist and landed a punch right in Nephrite's gut. Yellow Pearl felt the pressure on her wing released and scrambled to hold onto the edge of the ship, unsure if her injured wing would function in the event she lost her grip. 

Nephrite did not attempt to go after her. In fact, she seemed to be having enough trouble taking care of herself. She held her injured stomach and tried to face her opponent, but the shock and terror in her eyes gave her weakness away.

"Let's see," the fusion said, tapping her chin in faux contemplation. "Your abilities stop me from summoning a weapon around you, but surely I can still _make_ one, right?" She pulled at the hole Peridot had made in the ship's side, ripping a long thin piece of metal right off it. Her nose turned up slightly as she looked it over, but then she gave a shrug.

"Well, no one said it had to be fancy," she said, holding the makeshift weapon aloft so Nephrite could see it in its full, jagged-edged glory. "Now then... _this_ is what you get when you mess with a Peridot and a Pearl!" She thrust the hunk of metal forward. Nephrite attempted to jump away, but the small fighting space left little room for maneuvering. The metal shard sank into her stomach, poofing her instantly. The fusion cupped one hand around Nephrite's Gem, and a green bubble formed around it. She then held out another one of her massive hands and grasped Yellow Pearl by the waist, pulling her towards the safety of the open emergency hatch. 

Yellow Pearl stepped out of the wind and into the ship, shivering with both fear and excitement. She was alive. They had made it. She opened her mouth to express her gratitude, but then the strange fusion turned around and lowered her head, almost as if in a light bow. 

"Thank you," the fusion said.

"Eh?" Yellow Pearl stammered. "For what?"

The fusion smiled. "For helping me to remember... that sometimes it's worth getting though your differences."

\----

Back at the house, there remained quite a bit of work to be done. The roof had been all but destroyed, leaving the overall integrity of the structure more than a little compromised. Still, as the trio approached, Peridot clutching the green bubble with Nephrite's gem sealed inside, there was no doubt that a certain air of happiness had settled over the place. 

Peridot in particular couldn't stop jumping up and down. "Did you _see_ that? Did you see what we did? Wasn't that amazing? That was amazing, right?" She spun around in a little circle, swinging the green orb like a disembodied dance partner. Garnet, Lapis, Amethyst, and Steven hurried up to greet her, and Peridot was more than happy to share the vivid details of their escapades, along with a few embellishments. 

"Wow, you two fused?" Amethyst asked in disbelief. "And like, the fusion explode or anything?" 

Crystal Gem Pearl's cheeks went blue and she rubbed her arm. "I guess... when it came down to it, we had enough in common to make it work, regardless of what... happened before." 

Yellow Pearl cocked her head. The words had sounded like an apology of some kind. But if they were, Peridot seemed completely oblivious to them, still lost in her little victory dance. 

"I can totally understand why you Crystal Gems love fusion so much! We should do it all the time! With..." She counted on her fingers. "...all nine of us! That would be so cool! Wouldn't that be cool?" 

"Whoa, whoa, ease up a bit," said Garnet, holding up her hands. "Let's take it one thing at a time. But I'm glad you were successful. And I'm glad," she shot a glance at Pearl, "that you two were able to work together again." 

At last, Peridot seemed to calm down, soaking in Garnet and Pearl's last few words. "Yes," she agreed. "I'm glad as well." 

Garnet gave a nod and motioned to Steven to follow her down to the beach while the others stayed behind and chatted amongst themselves about the battle. Yellow Pearl followed behind Garnet and Steven a little ways. She tried to stay out of sight, which worked for Steven, although she had the sense Garnet still saw her. It didn't seem to matter either way. 

"I still don't get it," Steven was saying. 

"Don't get what?" Garnet asked with a chuckle. 

"Why you didn't let Yellow Pearl fly Ruby and Sapphire up there to fight? You couldn't have known that Peridot and Pear would suddenly decide to..." His voice trailed off, as he no doubt picked up on the obvious. The fusion was part Sapphire, after all. "Wait, you did know that the whole time, didn't you? You wanted them to make up!"

Garnet lowered her visor by a fraction and winked at Steven with one of her three eyes. 

"You're so sneaky!" Steven laughed, and Garnet patted him on the head, making a gentle shushing sound. 

"Maybe I am," she allowed. "But for right now, we'll keep that our little secret." 

Yellow Pearl smiled, then backed away and let them finish talking. The Earth's sun was getting low on the horizon. She felt the sand hugging her feet, the warm wind cradling her body. This wasn't home, not by a long shot. So many things here still made no sense to her. But she had some hope now... and with allies like Garnet, Peridot, and the others... she was looking forward to learning. 

The End.


End file.
